Miraculous Date
by lillykleaf
Summary: Part 2 to Miraculous Comicon. Comicon is now over and it's time for Adrien and Marinette to take the next step- their first date! After that debacle, the closer Marinette gets to Adrien the more she finds the lines she's drawn between herself and Ladybug getting blurred and she's not sure how she feels about that.
1. Chapter 1

**Here is part two to the Miraculous Comicon story! If you haven't read that yet, I would suggest that you before you continue reading. All caught up? Good! Just a heads-up: this story arc will contain more than just their first date and since they will now be in a relationship it will have more mature content. I'm not planning on passing the T rating, but I figured you would want to know ahead of time before you got involved.**

 **Alright** **, onward!**

 **I own nothing from Miraculous Ladybug.**

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"Time won't move faster if you keep looking at the clock, but you might give yourself whiplash," a dry voice said.

Marinette turned back from the clock she'd been glancing at to scowl at her best friend, Alya, who was currently sprawled out on Marinette's bed in her apartment while Marinette sat at her vanity touching up her make-up with an obsessive nervousness. "Do you have any other suggestions?"

"Yeah, chill dude."

"You sound just like Nino," Marinette said, turning back to examine herself in the mirror once more, convinced she could do just one more touch up to make herself look perfect. She knew she looked good. As a fashion designer, she knew what fit her body type best and was rocking her off the shoulder, navy and pink dress and a simple necklace with a flower made of pearls. Adrien hadn't told her what they were doing tonight, just that it was formal wear.

Alya stuck her tongue out at her best friend. "Still good advice."

Marinette waved her arms about in a flustered panic and turned back to her vanity, picking up a thing of body glitter and contemplating putting some around her eyes. Alya saw what she was about to do and got up off the bed, gently grabbing her friend's hand. "Trust me, you don't want to do that. Walk away from the make-up. You're perfect, don't ruin it by overdoing it."

With a sigh, she let Alya drag her to the front room. She plopped her in front of the coffee table and shoved a puzzle box in her hands. Marinette blinked at it. "What's this for?"

"You need to do something with your hands, but no needles or pens because with your nerves you would stab yourself or get covered in ink."

"That was one time!" Marinette complained, though she did open the puzzle box and dump its contents onto the table.

Alya snickered as she helped her sort out the edge pieces. "Yeah, but he brought you back early because you touched your face and looked like someone gave you a black eye and people kept shooting him dirty looks at the restaurant."

Marinette groaned and let her forehead hit the table. "I'm a walking disaster. I'm totally going to screw up this date and then Adrien will never talk to me again."

Alya laughed, but also reached out to put a comforting hand on her best friend's shoulder. "Okay, first- Adrien is totally in love with you. If you don't believe me I can show you those pics from the Superhero Ball. Those prove that at the very least, he lusts you."

"ALYA!" Marinette shrieked, her face turning red.

"Second," Alya said, ignoring her friend's outburst, "You are amazing and any guy would be lucky to have you. Just breath and calm down. Channel your inner Ladybug."

"Ladybug isn't real," Marinette said.

"Ladybug is you. I'm the writer, so if I say she's you then it's doctrine because as writer I am the god of my story."

"What does that make the illustrator then?" Marinette asked, letting herself be distracted.

"Ummm, my prophet?" Alya suggested.

"Aw come on, I don't even get to be a co-god?"

Before Alya could counter offer the doorbell rang. Marinette let her head fall to the table with a groan of "I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this."

Alya got up and opened the door. "Adrien! Come on in." Marinette heard her say from the hallway. "Marinette, you better get out here, because if you leave me alone with this boy I will start telling him all of your embarrassing stories. Starting with that one time in high school when-"

"COMING!" Marinette shot up from the table and came barreling down the tiny hall of an entryway. When she came into view both Alya and Adrien (who she registered as ridiculously gorgeous in grey button up shirt and black slacks) burst into laughter. "What?"

"You- you-" Alya tried to say, but couldn't get past her giggles.

"Here let me," Adrien said, at least he was trying to contain his laughter. He reached out and gently touched her forehead before pulling away and holding something out to her. A puzzle piece.

"Thank you," Marinette said quietly, her face burning with embarrassment as she took back the puzzle piece.

"Is this where I make a joke about how you complete me?" He asked with a smirk.

"No!" Marinette said firmly, while at the same time Alya gave an adamant "Yes!"

Marinette turned to glare at her best friend who started laughing again. "You know what, we're leaving," Marinette said, taking his hand in hers and pulling him back out of the entryway and into the apartment hallway trying to keep together what little dignity she had left.

"Yes, Ma'am," he said happily, giving her hand a little squeeze.

"Don't stay out to late you crazy kids," Alya called from the doorway, still snickering.

Marinette paused just long enough to stick her tongue out at her then hurried off before she could say anything else to embarrass her. _Well_ , Marinette thought to herself, _at least things can't get worse from here on out_.

* * *

 **Okay, so it wasn't that long, but I thought it was a cute little into/ foreshadowing for their date. Thank you all so much for reading. Comments are always appreciated and I try to always reply.**

 **Until next week!**


	2. Chapter 2

**This episode was brought to you by my husband, not because he has even the slightest interest in MLB, or writing for that matter, but because he absolutely loves cars and helped me write the first part of this. It took a long Q &A before he decided that this would be the car that Chat Noir would drive. This being their first date, Adrien would definitely pull out his fancy Chat-car to try and impress her. I believe most days he just rides public transportation like your average European. (I put a ridiculous amount of thought into each of their activities. Like hours and days making sure everything was accurate and could actually happen.)**

* * *

When they got out of the apartment building, he led her to a low, black car whose paint shone in the evening sunlight. Its mirrors were held on stiletto thin handles that seemed to error on the side of impracticality to her though the whole thing had a very sleek, aerodynamic, modern feel to it. Marinette had no idea what it was but she could tell it wasn't cheap. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"A cab would have sufficed."

"But I only get to drive her on special occasions."

Marinette snorted. "Her? Does she have a name?"

Adrien looked only slightly sheepish as he opened the door for her. Though lifted the hatch might be a more accurate description, since the doors didn't swing out like a normal car- they lifted up . Okay, that was cool, and she would have commented on it were she not completely derailed by his next comment. "Bridgette."

Marinette propped her hand up on her hip. "Did you seriously name your car after my superhero character?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

Marinette stopped a moment to consider how exactly she felt about this. "You know, I haven't decided yet, but I'll let you know by the end of the night."

He grinned as she slid into the seat and leaned down so they could keep eye contact. "You won't be disappointed, My Lady. She's a very smooth ride." Then he shut the door for her and went around to the driver's side.

"So what's up, first?" she asked.

"I was thinking dinner and then a walk along the river and finish off with a little boat ride at sunset."

She smiled. "That sounds perfect."

She settled into the comfy seat and saw something written on the dash in silver letters. "Huayra?"

"It's the car - a Pagani Huayra."

"Are you offended that I have no idea what that is?"

He laughed as he pulled out and into the flow of traffic. "A princess doesn't have to know what kind of horse her loyal knight rides."

"Well, it's certainly a nice horse."

Adrien gave the dashboard a pat. "That she is."

"If you're going to spend the whole time flirting with Bridgette, I can leave so you can have this date with her," Marinette warned, though she smiled to let him know she wasn't actually serious.

"Oh come now, surely My Lady isn't jealous? You should know you're the only woman for me." He winked at her.

Marinette felt her face flush at the flirt. No one had talked to her that way before. Not when she was dressed as Marinette. "I- you- thanks. I- I mean, thank you."

A Cheshire grin spread across his face. "I always wondered why you talked like that. Alya said you only do it when I'm around. Is that true?"

Marinette wished there was a back seat in the car for her to crawl into and hide. I'm going to kill Alya, she though to herself. "Alya says a lot of things."

His hand reached out to give hers a squeeze before returning to the steering wheel. "If it's any consolation, I think it's adorable."

Her brain temporarily short circuited. 'Kay, maybe I won't kill Alya. Maybe I should make her thank-you macaroons. "W-Where going we are?"

"You mean 'Where are we going?'" he asked.

Marinette didn't trust her mouth just then so she just nodded.

"We're going to dinner, but don't ask where. It's a surprise."

They fell into a comfortable silence with Marinette taking in the luxurious interior of the car and Adrien focusing on driving. He parked and walked around to let her out. "We'll have to walk from here, but don't worry. It's not far."

She slipped out from under the car door and accepted his offered hand. He didn't let it go even after she'd steadied herself, but she didn't try to take it back. She let him guide her through the crowded street to their mystery destination. People crowded in on every side, their bodies blockading the narrow street. Her eyes darted around trying to keep everything in her line of sight. She reached out with her free hand to pull her purse closer- and froze.

Adrien jerked to a halt at her sudden stop. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"We have to go back," she said, panic building. "I forgot my purse!"

"Why do you need your purse?"

"My wallet's in there."

Adrien looked offended. "You didn't think I was going to make you pay? Everything's on me tonight."

"But my phone was in there too!"

At that, he gave a sympathetic wince. "If we're late for our reservation, they'll give away our spot. How about we run back to your place after dinner and grab it before continuing on with the evening?"

Marinette bit her lip in worry. Logically she knew she didn't need her phone tonight, but the thought of being without the little device was still disconcerting. Then she looked up at his hopeful face. She knew he had put a lot of effort and planning into tonight and didn't want to be the reason it got ruined. "Alright, I can go an hour or two without a phone, I guess," she relented.

The smile he gave her could melt glaciers and made the inconvenience feel like a minor thing. "Thank you, Marinette."

She returned his smile timidly and squeezed the hand that was still holding hers. "N-No problem." Oh, come on! I just spoke without stuttering.

Adrien either didn't notice or didn't care as he coaxed her into walking towards their destination once more. They were in a nicer area of town, and the people around them were just as dressed up as they were.

"We're here," he said.

Her jaw dropped. "Adrien!" she hissed, "This is the Le Grand Véfour!"

He smiled down at her. "I know."

"You have to book reservations weeks in advance!"

His smile widened. "I know."

"I only agreed to go out on a date with you a week ago!"

"Amazing what connections and deep pockets can get the determined man," he said with a wink.

"I can't afford a drink of water from here, much less a full meal!"

"Ah, but you're not paying. I am." With that he led her inside.

"Bonjour monsieur et madame. How can I help you this evening?"

"Table for two for Agrest," Adrien said.

The waiter looked at the screen in front of him then back up with a frown. "I'm sorry, you're not on the list."

Adrien frowned. "I assure you I am."

The waiter checked the computer in front of him once more then looked back up at him. "I'm sorry, but you definitely don't have a reservation for tonight, and all our seats are full. If you would like, I could schedule you for six weeks from now."

Adrien's face grew redder with every word out of the man's mouth. Before he could explode, another man in a tux swooped in. "If I could be of assistance, monsieur, please step over here."

He complied, and the two had a whispered conversation, then the man went to check the computer by the waiter before going back to Adrien and whispering something else to him. His face went red once more, though he didn't look angry this time. If anything, Marinette would say he looked embarrassed. Mortified, even. He walked back over to where Marinette was still standing.

"What's going on?"

His face flushed a deeper red. "Apparently, there was a mistake with the scheduling, and our dinner is booked for next week. Not this week."

"Oh, um, what do you want to do now, then?"

"Let's just go back to the car, and I'll take you home," he muttered, leading her out.

"Wait," she said as he walked quickly, slightly ahead of her. He didn't listen. "Wait," she said in a firmer tone. He still kept walking, not even looking her in the eye. "Adrien, wait!" she grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop.

"I'm sorry," he said, running his hand through his hair in frustration. "I could have sworn I scheduled it for tonight. I hope you'll forgive me."

"Adrien," she said, gently grabbing his face to make him look at her. "It's okay. We can still go out to dinner. I'm sure there's somewhere around here that we can go to. It's fine. It's an adventure."

He took hold of the hand on his face, a hopeful look crossing his features. "Really? You want to keep going?"

"Yes, of course. We can just walk around until we find somewhere that doesn't need a reservation."

He beamed down at her. "Have I ever told you that you're amazing?"

She blushed and looked down. "I- ah, n-no."

"Ah, you made it like five sentences without stuttering. I think that was a personal best for you," he teased.

"Sh-shut up," she muttered.

He chose not to reply. Instead he slipped his hand into hers and smirk ed as he watched her blush darken. They walked down the road like that for a short while, barely aware of their surroundings. Marinette was glancing around, desperate to distract Adrien from her increasing flustered self and spotted a nearing restaurant.

"L-Look! How about there?"

He finally turned away from her face to glance at where she was pointing. "Le Pain Quotidien? I don't see why not. I've never been. If you want to, I'm down."

"Yup. Mmhmm. Let's go."

The building was packed with chattering people. It was a lively atmosphere . There was a counter full of various bread products that looked delicious to Marinette. They walked over there, ignoring the tables. The girl behind the counter looked up and smiled at them. "Welcome! How can I help you?"

Marinette glanced at the packed room and decided she didn't want to wait for an open table. Besides, it was a lovely evening, not too dark, and with a small spattering of clouds.. "We would like two meals to go, please."

"Will that be together or separate?"

"Together," Adrien said, pulling out his wallet.

"Alright, and what would you like to order?"

They examined the chalkboard hanging on the wall behind her. "I'll have the smoked salmon and avocado baguette with a falafel salad," Marinette said.

"And I'll have a chicken and zucchini baguette with the buddha salad," Adrien said.

The waitress typed up their orders and then directed them to wait at the other end of the counter for their orders. Thankfully it didn't take long because being in a place filled with the aroma of fresh baked bread made Marinette realize just how hungry she really was. She was practically salivating when the employee handed them the paper bag with their order.

Adrien took it and turned to her with a smile. "Is there somewhere you want to go next?"

Marinette thought for a moment. "There's a park not to far from here. The big fountain with the four women and cherubim. We could go eat there." She looked down remembered how nicely they were dressed . "Unless you're worried about getting your suit dirty. I should have asked; would you rather eat in here?"

He grinned at her as he held open the door for her. "They're just clothes. It'll wash out."

Marinette looked offended as she walked through. "Just clothes! You do realize I'm a fashion designer. That would be like me telling you it's just a computer."

Still grinning, he kept walking and subtly slipped his hand into hers. "I guess you're right. What I guess I meant is that you're more important than my suit, and I would happily ruin it if it meant making you smile. Not that I think sitting on the grass will get it ruined."

Marinette blushed and looked away. "W-Well okay, then. Better going get guess I."

He threw back his head to laugh as they arrived at the park and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Now that I know why you do that, I think it's the cutest thing in the world ."

If her face was blushing before, it was positively burning now. They sat down on the grass and he handed Marinette her order. She took a bite of her sandwich to avoid trying to think of something to say.

"Are you having a good time?" Adrien eventually asked. There was an undercurrent of anxiousness in his tone. His shoulders were raised to his neck, like he was preparing for a negative remark.

Marinette swallowed her bite and looked up at him with her brightest smile. "I am. Thank you, Adrien."

He let out a relived breath, his shoulders lowering as he returned her smile. "Good. If there's something you want to do, just let me know."

"I will," she assured him, "but for tonight, I think I'm content to just go with the flow of whatever you have planned."

They finished eating together in an easy silence, both stealing glances and too wrapped up in each other. Perhaps that was why they didn't notice that the rest of the park goers had cleared out or that the sky was darkening from more than just the setting sun. The small spattering of clouds had converged into one storm that let loose on their dinner quickly soaking everything .

Marinette jumped up before the ground could turn to mud and ruin her outfit. Adrien was quick on her heels and grabbed her hand. Together they ran to an awning across the street.

"The forecast this morning didn't say anything about rain!" Marinette fretted.

Adrien fumbled around in his jacket until he found what he was looking for. Proudly, he pulled out a small collapsible umbrella. "I double checked the weather report before coming to get you and they'd updated it to a forty percent chance of rain."

She laughed. "That's a little paranoid, don't you think?"

"It's not paranoid when you're right," he told her, popping the umbrella open and offering it to her.

She smiled shyly and reached out to grab it. Their hands touched. Heat sparked through her and sent a shiver down her spine. She kept her eyes on his to see if he felt it too as she tightened her grip on the umbrella, and consequently his hand. His cheeks darkened, and he started to lean in towards her.

Her heart started summersaulting in her chest from anticipation. She closed her eyes and tilted her head up, waiting for their lips to connect and praying it was every bit as magical as she'd been dreaming about. She could feel his breath ghosting across her face now. Any second now-

The umbrella snapped closed, pushing their heads together and making Marinette's lips connect with Adrien's nose. Both pulled back, red-faced and stuttering apologies. Marinette noticed that his nose was red from more than just blushing and a giggle escaped her.

"What?" Adrien asked, cocking his head to the side.

"You- Your nose," she said between giggles. "You've got some lipstick on it."

He went cross-eyed trying to see what she was talking about, causing her to giggle harder. Then they were both laughing. It rang out through the now empty, clean streets, casting out any shadows around them- almost literally, as the storm around them stopped just as suddenly as it had started.

Marinette reached up to swipe her thumb across his nose to wipe it clean. Adrien wrinkled his nose under her touch and made a funny face. Still recovering from his previous giggle fit, she began to laugh harder.

"Well, since it stopped raining and I think we're done with dinner, would you like to move on to the next activity?" Adrien asked once she'd calmed down.

"That sounds like a great idea," Marinette said. She took the umbrella and pulled it closed. She kept it in her hand, just in case, and let Adrien take the other.

* * *

 **For anyone curious, all of the places that they went to here tonight were real and if you feel so inclined you can actually plan out and relive this whole debacle of a date. Thank you all for reading and sticking with me so far. Reading and reviews are always appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all for sticking with me thus far. Sorry this was a little late getting out. There were some people wo commented that were logged in as geust so I wanted to say a quick word to them before we get into it.**

 **ShippingQueen477- here's the kiss you were asking for!**

 **Madrien- If you wanna pay me actually human dollars, then I'll be more than happy to put forth the effort to post more than once a week ;)**

 **Now without further adieu here's the next installment!**

 **I own nothing Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

He led them to the Seine and started walking along it with purpose. She threw him questioning looks, but let whatever he had planned stay a surprise. He took her to a little docking area where there were mostly tourists lined up waiting to get on little paddle boats. He let go of Marinette's hand and walked up to one of the people in uniform and had a conversation that she couldn't hear. The man nodded, and Adrien smiled so she assumed that it was at least going better than their first attempt at dinner that evening.

He walked over, beaming. "Your chariot awaits, M'lady."

She raised her eyebrow at him. "That is a paddle boat; not a chariot."

"Floating chariot, then," he said with a wave of his hand, "Come on or we'll miss the sun set."

She smiled and let him pull her into the awaiting boat. He made sure she was safely situated and buckled in before doing the same himself, and they were off. Well, almost. It was a waiting line to get out and they had wait their turn to disembark from the little dock. Their conversation had run dry, so there they sat, awkwardly waiting for the crowd of boats to enter the river and thin out. An employee came with a map and a sheet of rules to explain everything to them while they waited.

"Stay in the main part of the river, don't go into any of the cannals or tributaries. You only rented for an hour, so here is as far as you can go to still make it back in time." He pointed to points on the map so they could see what he was talking about. "Be sure to bring it back on time or we won't be able to give you your deposit back. Do you understand?"

Both nodded their affirmative.

"Alright, then I will leave you with these and I hope you have a lovely evening," he told them, handing over the map and list of rules.

Once they got out into the river, it was actually fun learning how to operate the little vessel. They had to get their peddles going at the same speed so they didn't veer to far one way or the other. They turned the boat so they could watch the sun set and just let the current pull them. Marinette leaned over to rest her head against Adrien's arm, and he let his head drop to rest on top of hers. As the sun set, the lights of the shops around them grew brighter and sparkled against the river, making it look like the starlight was in the water around them instead of the sky above.

The sky was indigo with a few a few stubborn streaks of pink from the fading sun. They watched the sun set in silence. Marinette wasn't sure about Adrien's reason, but she spent most of her time in the boat having internal squeals over the fact that they were cuddling and wondering if he were going to kiss her now. As the sky continued to darken, she got worried about traveling in the little boat in the dark.

"This has been lovely, but don't you think we should head back before it gets too dark?"

"Hmm, oh, yeah." It seemed she had pulled him out of some deep thought, though he didn't elaborate on what it was. Instead, he put his feet to the peddles a little too enthusiastically, and there was a crack that made them both freeze.

"Adrien, did what I think just happened, happen?"

Even in the darkness she could see him wince. "That depends, what do you think just happened?"

"That the peddle gear just broke, and now we're stranded out here."

"Well, I don't know about stranded," he said pulling out his phone and holding it up for her to see. "I have the rental company's number. I'm sure they could tow us in and-" A wave rocked the boat and his phone slipped from his hand falling into the water. "Nope, you're right. You're completely right. We're stranded, and I royally screwed up."

She could see him starting to panic. "Adrien-"

"I'm sorry, Marinette. I'm really, truly sorry. This must be the worst date ever for you."

"It's not that bad!" she protested.

Adrien gave a snort of derision. "First I get the reservation wrong, then it rains on our back-up picnic, then the umbrella closes on you, and now I've stranded us out in the middle of the Seine!"

Oh my gosh, Marinette thought, he's just as nervous as I am. For some reason that thought boosted her courage. She reached out and grabbed his face, forcing him close so he could see her face even in the dark. "Adrien! Shut. Up."

He snapped his mouth closed, his jaw muscles standing out from clenching and his eyes were wide like a startled cat's. He was afraid. He was expecting her to reject him. Idiot.

"I think it's my decision whether or not I'm having a good time, and I can assure you that I've enjoyed every minute of this date so far. Do you want to know why?"

He slowly nodded his head, which she still held in her hands.

"First, this total dork comes to pick me up in the fanciest car he owns to try and impress me- which he named after my cartoon character. Then when things go wrong, this gentleman is more than willing to listen to my advice and try something new. When things go a little awry, this clever man shows that he thought ahead and brought an umbrella even when there was only a slight chance of rain and the gentleman in him came out again when he offered to share it with me, and we shared a moment under that umbrella that I can promise you I will squeal into my pillow about later tonight." He opened his mouth to say something, but she was on a roll and bulldozed on before he got the chance. "And finally, this totally hot guy took me on a romantic, if slightly touristy, boat ride down the river to watch the sun set. Where we are now, all alone with no one to see or bother us for the foreseeable future or interfere with what I'm about to do."

"What are you about to do?" His voice had gone husky, and even through the darkness she could see the hunger shining in his eyes.

"This." She pulled his face the last couple of inches to meet with hers. His lips were warm and eager and his hands reached out to keep her there. Not that she was making even the slightest attempt at escape. If anything, it was the opposite, as she tried to press herself closer. The more she felt him the more she wanted him. Warmth flood her, growing stronger the longer they kept their lips locked. His hands trailing through her hair and ghosting down her neck to grip her shoulders sent shocks of pleasure through her. Never before had physical contact made her feel so much.

Yes, she felt his hands on her and his lips against hers, but it was more than that. She felt his desire with the needy way his lips pressed against hers. She felt treasured with the way his hands held her. She felt a confidence that only grew with knowing you were wanted. She felt her affection and longing turning to what she could only describe as joy. Was this love? All she knew was that she wanted more.

All too soon they needed air and had to pull back, though his hands at her shoulders kept her close. He stared at her, open-mouthed and panting. His hot breath ghosted across her face and sent shivers down her spine. It didn't escape his notice.

"If you're feeling cold, you can come closer and we can cuddle," he said.

She didn't correct him. Instead she carefully slipped out of her seat and into his lap. His hands went from her shoulders to down her back as he gently pulled her against him, tracing lazy circles up and down her back. Marinette couldn't tell if he was deliberately riling her up or if he was genuinely trying to get her warm.

"I can't believe this is real," he whispered.

Marinette giggled, and from the way he stiffened, she guessed that he hadn't meant to say that out loud. "And just which part about tonight is so unbelievable?"

"I took Marinette Dupain-Cheng on a date tonight, and despite my terrible bad luck, it seems she had a good time." He pulled back then to see her face and wiggled his eyebrows. "I even kissed Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the very same girl I've had a celebrity crush on for years."

Marinette felt her face burn as the blush crept in but smiled up at him all the same. "And what exactly inspired your crush on Ladybug? You never did tell me."

He smiled down at her. "You never asked."

"Well, I'm asking now."

He rested his head on top of hers. Which was nice, but kept her from seeing his face. "I think my first attraction to the comic books was because I thought I kinda looked like Chat Noir."

"That's because you do," Marinette said. "I started drawing it for publishing around the same time you sent me that request for your first commission. I'd been trying to draw the perfect Felix for like a week and couldn't come up with anything and then you sent me that picture of you in those Inuyasha ears and then it was like- boom- inspiration!"

She could feel his smirk as he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "We're going to come back to that comment, but in the meantime, you asked me a question- so it started with the comic books and then I went to your first signing and imagine my surprise when the artist was dressed up like Ladybug herself. A spot on Ladybug, I might add."

She groaned at his pun, but he ignored her and continued talking.

"I was curious, so I started following you in any way I could. The blog, your twitter page, all of the fan groups that sprouted up speculating over who you could be. It was a mystery that I wanted to solve. The more I paid attention to you, the more I noticed things."

"Such as?" Marinette prompted when he went silent.

"Such as you going to the hospital at least once a month to visit children and read to them, or how you try to have a unique conversation with every fan you talk to at signings, or the cute way you laugh when someone says something clever, or how you can actually reenact almost any scene with Ladybug's magic yo-yo. Everything I learned about you as Ladybug just made me want to know you more."

"But that was only stuff I did as Ladybug," Marinette said sadly.

Adrien leaned down to give her a kiss on her forehead. "I'm not finished."

She snuggled in closer and let him continue.

"There are plenty of things I noticed about you as Marinette. I saw how you put your heart and soul into everything you made. I saw how you keep a box of clothes for the homeless shelter in your store. I saw you taking the ones with holes out to fix them up before putting them back in even though no one would know or thank you for that." Marinette flushed bright red at that. She didn't think anyone had seen her doing it. "I saw a kind and frugal business owner, who her employees adore. Which, as a business owner myself, I know means a lot."

"I have two employees," Marinette argued. "It's not that hard to get two people to like you. You have a lot more than just two."

He laughed and gave her a squeeze. "True, but still a good sign that you're a good person."

She snuggled shyly into his chest, but found she had no response to his shower of compliments. She hadn't expected him to have so much to say.

"I could go on," he assured her. "Everything I found out about Ladybug and everything I learned about Marinette was impressive on their own, but when they became one person, it was the most perfect package I could think of. And then, against all odds, you actually like me. Bad luck and unrealistic dating expectations aside, I think tonight couldn't have turned out better."

She giggled at that. "Okay, seriously. How can you have bad luck when dating? Just how bad were your other dates?"

"Most of them weren't bad per say, but I didn't really click with any of them. Between work and my anime collection and my mildly unhealthy obsession with a certain comicbook series, most dates didn't go very far. I was told that I had an unrealistic view of reality."

Now Marinette snorted. "As best friends with a writer, I feel like I'm qualified to tell you that reality is overrated."

"See, that answer right there makes you different from any other girl I've ever been on a date with, and I love it."

"Thank you," Marinette said quietly, trying to decide how much she should read in to his use of the word 'love'.

They both fell into silent contemplation, staring out at the lights reflecting off the river now that night had fully fallen.

"Hey, Marinette?" Adrien said, breaking the silence once more.

"Yes?"

"Not that it's not totally awesome to have a normal, fluent conversation with you, but why did you stop stuttering?"

"Oh, I guess I haven't just now, have I?"

"No. Is there a reason?"

"Uh, well. I had something of a realization, and it made it easier to talk to you."

"What was it?"

She blushed and tucked her head down even though she rationally knew he couldn't see it in the dark. "That's a secret."

"Marinette," he whined. "Come on. We're going to be stuck here a while anyway. Might as well tell me."

"It's kinda embarrassing," she said.

"Well now I've got to know." She shook her head. He leaned down to nuzzle against her ear and whisper, "Come on, Marinette. Tell me. Pleeeaaasseeee?"

"Okay. Okay. Just promise not to laugh," she grumbled, extremely glad for the darkness to hide her now scarlet face.

"I would never," he promised, and she felt him put his hand over his heart.

"I just had something of a revelation right around when we kissed, and now talking to you isn't nerve-wracking anymore. It's really not that big a deal," she said, roundaboutly answering his question.

"Marinette?" Adrien said again.

"Yes, Adrien?"

"Did you just imply that my magical kiss broke the spell the princess was under?"

"I- I n-not like that. I- m-meant-"

"Oh no! Looks like the curse is coming back. Looks like my princess needs another kiss!"

Marinette's face was on fire. How could he be so adorably dorky?! "Come here, you mangy cat," she muttered, grabbing his face and pulling it down to meet hers.

* * *

 **For those of you who are going to bring it up- yes, Marinette and Adrien weren't really stuck, they could have shouted for help or even swam to shore (it's a river, not the middle of the ocean), but they were panicking and not thinking clearly. And then when they weren't panicking… well they had other things on their mind then.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ok, sorry this took so long, but I let my friend read it and she was like, "It's good, but if you're writing a romance you can't just skip over kiss scenes with one sentance!" And she was right, so I rewrote it and added a couple hundred words to give you a proper good night kiss. Here it is now, thank you for being patient with me.**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Three boxes of pizza, an angry fisherman, and one missing shoe later - Adrien and Marinette made it safely to shore, and he took her back home.

He pulled up to her apartment complex and turned the car off, but neither made a move to leave. Marinette shuffled her feet against the floor of the car. They were bare because she'd taken off her only remaining shoe rather than walk around wearing only one. Adrien coughed. "I'm sorry about your shoe. I'll buy you a new pair."

Marinette laughed. "That's alright. They weren't expensive."

"I'd still like to get you a new pair," he said, nervously fiddling with his keys.

"I didn't peg you for the kinda guy who liked shopping," Mairnette told him.

"I don't," he affirmed. "Well, not in real places, but I like online shopping. If it was with you though, I think it would be fun. Like tonight, this was some of the most fun I've ever had and I feel like it was more because of who I was with than what I was doing."

He was looking at her so earnestly with his big green eyes, Marinette found she couldn't bring herself to look away even as she felt her face heat up with an intense blush. "Adrien," she murmured and reached across the car to pull him towards her.

He was already leaning in and their lips met awkwardly in the cramped space. They both twisted and fumbled about to try and find a better angle while still keeping their lips together. Both unbuckled their seatbelts to move unhindered. Marinette found herself kneeling on her seat, her hands on Adrien's face every bit as much for balance as it was to keep him there. Adrien was too tall to do the same but he scooted as close to her as he could get with the console in the way and twisted.

Marinette felt the gentleness and underlying tone of building want in the kiss and hummed in pleasure. One of Adrien's arms came forward to grab her and pull her towards him. She tried to oblige, but aside from leaning a little closer there wasn't room for her to do more. Her hands slipped from his cheeks down to his shoulders where she tried to pull him closer.

Adrien let out a frustrated whine that sent a thrill through Marinette and pressed his lips harder against hers as if trying to make up for the lack of contact. They strained at each other, their frustration and desire intensifying as their lips pressed harder against each other and Marinette knew her lips would be swollen when they stopped. Finally the frustration grew too much and they broke apart gasping for air.

Marinette leaned back from her kneeling position and rested against the fogged window. Her bare feet could feel the cool, smooth leather and she curled her toes against it as she breathed deeply to try and get herself back under control. Never before had she felt such a need to be so close to another human being before. Had they been able to properly reach each other, how far would she have gone? Had nothing gotten in her way, would she have realized she wanted him that bad in the first place?

Before she could really contemplate that thought Adrien spoke up, "Umm, well, I think I finally found a problem with Bridgette."

Marinette let out a snort and groaned to keep herself from laughing. "Don't talk about your car right after making out. It's not cool."

He grinned over at her. "Perhaps not, but it's pertinent. It seems I need to get a bigger car."

Marinette gave a small chuckle. "That infers that things will be happening in your car again."

Adrien coughed and he started sputtering out apologies. "I- I'm sorry. I didn't- You don't-"

"Adrien! Adrien!" she called out, fighting back the urge to laugh at his sudden panic. "I didn't mean that nothing was happening again, just that there are more comfortable places than your car."

The car fell completely silent as both realized what she'd just said and Marinette felt like her whole body was on fire as the embarrassment settled in. Now it was her turn to stutter. "I'm not- You don't- I-"

Adrien reached out and gently pulled her face towards his bringing her in for another kiss. She shut up when their lips met and he held her there, lightly, so she could pull back if she wanted. Eventually he pulled back, a grin splitting his face in two. "Well now that we're both feline awkward, I think we should call it a night. I'll call you later alright?"

All embarrassment left as she gave him an unimpressed stare. "Adrien, you can't be serious."

"Oh I'm pawsitive, My Lady," he said with a grin, as she continued to give him a deadpan stare he leaned in closer, "I hope you can furgive me I just cat-not help myself around you."

Marinette reached out and grabbed his collar pulling him in until his face was just a breath's width from her own and help him there. His eyes dilated, and he gulped. Now it was her turn to grin. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

He gaped like a fish, but no words came out. She released him and pulled back with a smirk. He finally got one word out. "Marinette."

He said her name reverently like it was a prayer and it sent a thrill running through her while a shyness over took her and she found herself unable to meet his adoring gaze. Eventually he snapped out of it and cleared his throat. "Right, we were calling it a night."

Marinette nodded, not trusting herself to speak right then and turned to try and let herself out only to stare blankly at the door. "Ummm, Adrien?"

"Oh, right! Just a second." He got out of the car, came around to her side, and lifted up the side so it rose up like wing.

Marinette slipped out, grabbing her shoe on the way and reached up on tip toe to give Adrien on final peck on the lips before slipping inside the building. She made sure she was out of sight before she let out her squeal of happiness and jumped up and down in the air. He had kissed her. Repeatedly! And she had kissed him. Repeatedly!

Marinette went to bed thrilled but emotionally exhausted after such a big night. She had a wonderful dream that night, involving a white dress and dancing hamsters and three little blonde children calling her mom. It was such a lovely dream that she was reluctant to wake up, but wake up she had to because Alya came bursting in to her apartment in the wee hours of the morning.

"Mari, get up! You're going to want to see this," Alya shouted, coming straight to the bedroom.

"I DO!" Marinette shouted, sitting up in bed as her friend flipped on the light and then flopped on top of her.

Alya laughed. "Girl, I hope last night was worth it."

Marinette sighed dreamily. "Oh Alya, last night was absolutely amazing! You'll never guess what happened."

Alya smirked at her. "I don't have to guess."

Marinette blushed. "Is it that obvious?"

Alya pulled out her phone and handed it to Marinette. "No, I mean, I literally don't have to guess. You should see this."

Marinette picked up the phone and then dropped it with a yelp, the shock of what she saw on the screen a better adrenaline shot than espresso. "How did you get a picture of that?"

"That's why I came here. I figured you'd want to hear it from me first and give you a chance to prep before you left the house. Are you okay?" Alya reached out a hand to grab Marinette's shoulder.

Marinette was still staring at the picture on the phone in shock. It wasn't a high quality photo, nor was the lighting that great, but it very clearly was a photo of her and Adrien on their picnic at the Fontaine Louvois.

"How did you get this picture?" she asked again.

Alya winced but tried to hide it with a smile. "I was going through local gossip blogs and found a link talking about how one of the thirty under thirty had possibly found a new girlfriend. You know I'm total trash about celebrity couples, so I clicked on it. Imagine my surprise when it was you."

"What's the thirty under thrity?" Marinette asked dazedly.

"Oh Mari, you really need to read something other than fashion magazines and manga some time. The top thirty most desirable men under thirty. They're rated for things like wealth, fame, looks, stuff like that. Adrien is number thirteen. Honestly, girl, google your crushes every once in a while."

"Why is Adrien on that list?" Marinette exclaimed.

Alya raised an eyebrow at her. "First off- have you seen that boy's face. Sunshine's so hot you could fry a steak on him. Second- he is a successful business man running his own computer software company making tons of money."

Marinette nodded, conceding. "Okay. Fair. It's actually not that surprising when you say it like that, but why do people care if I go on a date with him. Also, who took that picture?"

"You went on a date with someone who has, to date, been one of the most aloof and unachievable bachelors on the list. That's big news in the gossip world. As for who took the photo, anyone who pays attention to the thirty under thirty could have taken that and sold it to the writer. You would have to contact whoever published this to find out, and even then I doubt they would tell you because of confidentiality agreements."

Marinette groaned and pulled her legs up to her chest to flop her head onto her knees. "How many people do you think read that?"

"Not that many," Alya said quickly, while refusing to make eye contact.

"Alyaaaa," Marinette said in a warning tone. "How many?"

Alya sighed but still didn't make eye contact. "According to the last time I refreshed the page, a couple thousand had seen it, and the article was posted two hours ago."

"What?" Marinette shrieked.

"It's okay though, the article never mentions your name because no one has any idea who you are, and that's the only picture they have of your date, and it's only a side view of your face," Alya said hurriedly, trying to cut off Marinette's oncoming panic attack.

"No one knows yet, Alya. No one knows yet. Once they find out, what if they find out I'm Ladybug? The whole point of me becoming Ladybug was because I really can't handle attention, and you know that. Remember last time I did any kind of talking in front of people without a mask?"

Alya rolled her eyes. "That was Speech and Debate, and you were sixteen."

"And it was scarring enough that I never went in front of a crowd as Marinette ever again."

"But you've grown so much. I'm sure you'd be fine."

"Or I could blank on everything until I panic so bad that I forget to breathe and wake up in the nurse's office after I faint."

"You're not in high school anymore. You'd wake up in a hospital, not the nurses office," Alya said, trying to make a joke.

Marinette groaned and grabbed the pillow she'd been laying on, whacking her friend over the head with it. "If you're not going to help, get out of my room."

"No," Alya said, righting herself back onto the bed.

"Why?" Marinette growled.

"Because you're my best friend, and right now you need hugs." With that she pulled Marinette in for a forcible cuddle-fest that Marinette only resisted for show before giving in and snuggling up to her best friend.

"Do you think Adrien knows?"

"Considering he's tried to call you at least ten times since I got here, I would say yes."

"Why are you only just telling me, now?" Marinette shrieked, fumbling around for her phone.

"Because you were panicking, and I figured it would be better if you calmed down before trying to talk to him. Also, before you ask, your phone is on silent, so that's why you didn't hear it. Good thing I came to see you or you might have slept in and missed work."

"If it's on silent, how do you know he's calling me?" Marinette asked, pausing in her search to stare at her friend.

The brunette grinned and held up the device to show that Adrien was calling her once again. "Because I grabbed it off the coffee table on my way in here."

Marinette shrieked and lunged for the phone. Alya answered it for her, putting it on speaker.

"Marinette? Marinette, are you there?" Adrien's voice said over the phone speaker.

Alya flapped her hand at Marinette, urging the other woman to speak. "H-Hello?"

"Marinette, have you seen it yet?"

She didn't even have to ask what he was talking about. There could only be one thing making him call her in a panic this morning. "Yeah. I saw it. Alya just showed me."

"I swear I had no idea that was coming. Most people at least give me warning or ask for permission before posting anything. I didn't even know anyone had taken our picture last night. I'm going to have my secretary call whoever posted that and demand that it be taken down."

"Bad idea, Sunshine," Alya said, speaking up for the first time. "If it suddenly disappears after receiving this many views, it'll just blow up, and everyone will be watching you closer than ever trying to figure out what you're trying to hide."

"Oh, h-hey Alya. Didn't realize you could hear me."

"Relax Adrien, you didn't say anything embarrassing like profess your undying love to my girl."

"Alya!" Marinette shouted, making another lunge for the phone and finally freeing it from the other girl's grasp.

She pressed a button and brought it up to her ear. "Sorry, I finally got my phone back and took it off speaker."

"It's alright," he said with a nervous chuckle. "I was just calling to make sure you'd seen the article and were okay."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm freaking out a little, but I want you to know that I don't blame you. Maybe we should be more careful next time, though."

"So there's still a next time?" Adrien asked in a small voice.

She smiled and shook her head, then remembered he couldn't see her. "Adrien, of course there will be a next time. Last night was amazing and you still have those reservations for La Grand Vefour, remember?" she teased.

"Right. It would be a shame to waste those."

"That it would," she said with mock seriousness.

He chuckled a little but grew quiet, and she sensed he was getting serious again. "Would it be alright to stop by and check up on you later today? I just want to make sure you're doing okay."

"Uh, yeah. That should be fine. Text me later. Listen, I need to go. I'm already running behind and it's bad when the boss is late for work."

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I'll let you go. See you later. Let me know if anyone gives you any trouble."

"Will do. And Adrien?"

A heartbeat of silence. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for calling."

"Anytime, Marinette. Anytime," he said fervently.

They hung up, and she pulled the phone back to stare at it and smile until she registered that Alya was still there, bouncing silently on the end of her bed while she waited for Marinette to fill her in on what she'd missed.

"So?" Alya said when they made eye contact.

"So, what?" Marinette said, getting out of bed and foraging around on the floor for some clothes to wear.

"So what was did he say when you took him off speakerphone and what did you do last night?" Alya asked.

"The point of taking him off speaker phone was so the conversation could be private." Alya raised her eyebrow at the other girl, waiting. Marinette sighed and gave in. "It wasn't much really. He just wanted to make sure I wasn't mad or anything. The exact same stuff you heard when it was on speakerphone."

"Except he also asked you out on a date," Alya pointed out.

"Well, technically I asked him- actually it was more confirming that something we'd already talked about was going to still happen since he thought I might be mad at him."

"Which you're not, so on the other question I asked- what did you guys do last night?"

"I thought you already knew from the article."

"That just says you went on a picnic. I doubt that's all you did. Come on, spill it girl."

So, she told her about the evening and its mishaps and wonders. Alya listened attentively; Marinette could tell from her twitching fingers that she longed to record or at least write down what she heard, ever the reporter at heart. She appreciated that her friend showed restraint for her benefit. If the internet was getting curious over just an interview, she wondered what they would do for the exclusive she was giving her friend.

When all was said and done, Alya sat back on the bed and laughed. "I'd have thought Agrest would be smoother than that."

Marinette giggled. "I think the lesson I learned last night was that I'm dating a total dork."

"So you are dating, then?"

Marinette bit her lip and looked down. "Yes? I don't know. We didn't have a DTR* , and it's only been one date so that would kinda be moving a little quick to tell him that we need to do that, wouldn't it?"

Alya shrugged. "A DTR is for whenever you're not sure where you stand, so there's not really a 'too soon' time for that, I think."

Marinette hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I think it's kinda exciting right now, being in between, but when I can't take it anymore, I'll be sure to talk to him."

Alya laughed. "Alright girl, in the meantime, you better get going before you're late for work. Well, more late for work."

Marinette cocked her head in question then turned to look at her clock- and promptly shrieked in alarm. "I'm late!"

* * *

 ***For those who don't know DTR means Define The Relationship**

 **Also, if I get ten comments I will write the scene involving the "three boxes of pizza, an angry fisherman, and one missing shoe" it won't happen immediately, but I will work on it as a one shot for you lovelies.**

 **Thank you all so much for the support that you've given me thus far!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright, here's the next update. Thank you all who responded and and have followed so far. Unfortunately there were only 7 comments so we didn't quite reach the goal of ten, but I'll give it another shot and if we can reach it this week then I'll still keep the goal of writing what happened with the angry fisherman, three pizza boxes and the missing shoe.**

 **I do not own Miraculous Ladybug**

* * *

Marinette came barreling through the employee entrance of her little shop and ran right into Manon. Both girls shrieked in surprise and fell backwards. The bolts of fabric Manon had been carrying were knocked out of her arms and slid across the floor. They both scrambled to pick them up, apologizing to each other.

After they both stood up, they stared at each other awkwardly before Manon laughed. "I honestly wasn't expecting you to come in today."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"The article," Manon said.

Marinette winced at its mention. "You saw that?"

"I've been keeping an eye on the thirty under thirty since Comic-Con to see how long it would take for people to notice," Manon said with a shrug.

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Did everyone know about that except me?"

Manon laughed. "Read a magazine sometime. I always thought he was cosplaying at those events so no one would recognize him. I'm surprised Mr. Luckless hasn't been ousted for the total nerd that he is yet. You should read some of the articles. They're pretty funny when you know the real guy."

"Mr. Luckless?"

"Yeah, it's Adrien's nickname on the list because he's number thirteen, and he's had such terrible luck with women."

"Oh, has he?" Marinette found herself torn between curiosity and feeling like she was invading Adrien's privacy somehow. Shouldn't she be hearing these things from him? If he even wanted to share them.

"Yeah, it's been a long time since he went on a date with anyone, according to the tabloid, and he's never gone on a second date with a girl. Someone asked him about it in an interview once, and he said it was because none of them felt like 'the one'."

Marinette felt her face heat up, certain it was turning red. Adrien had asked her on a second date. In fact, he'd called that morning to make sure she hadn't changed her mind. Her blush did not escape Manon's notice, whose grin turned impish.

"Did something happen last night?"

"He- He never asks girls on a second date?" she asked, skirting Manon's question with one of her own.

Manon squealed. "He asked you, didn't he? Oh my gosh, he asked you on a second date!"

Marinette was sure her face was about to be on fire, but she couldn't hide her grin as she waved the teenager away. "Off with you. That's enough gossip. Don't you have shelves to stack or something?"

"Yes, boss," Manon said, trying to give her a mock salute with her armful of fabric before running off to do as she was told.

Marinette took a few deep breaths to get herself under control and try to minimize the blush on her cheeks before heading up front. No one was scheduled to pick anything up today, so she doubted there would be that many people this morning, but she still wanted to look professional and not like a twitter-pated schoolgirl.

A petite redhead was manning the front desk when she walked out.

"Morning, Tikki ," Marinette said.

The redhead turned to Marinette's voice, her bob swishing in front of her face as she did so. "Oh, morning, Marinette. Manon said you might not be coming in today."

Marinette smiled and walked over to her desk where she met with clients. "With all the new commissions we got from Comic Con, it wouldn't be fair to not come in ."

"Speaking of, if you're going to be out here, I'll go in the back and work on that Wonder Woman commission."

"Thank you," Marinette said to Tikki's retreating form.

The petite woman raised her hand in acknowledgement as she bounced out.

Marinette resigned herself to a long day and sat down at her desk with a sigh, pulling up her email. She was still negotiating and weeding through all the people who had found her business from Comic Con. By the end of it, after combing out the people with small budgets and unachievable costume ideas, she'd probably be left with less than ten, but ten new people on top of her regulars was still a growing business. Briefly, she wondered if Adrien would come to her this next year for his costumes now that they were. . . whatever they were. As she scrolled through and responded to people, she was surprised by one email that had come this morning.

 **To Ms. Dupain-Cheng**

 **I've done some research and have reason to believe that you are the mystery girl who went on a date with Adrien Agrest. I would love to interview you for a follow up to our previous article and learn more about how it went and how you met. Please contact me. I'm sure we can work out something beneficial for the both of us.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **Alec Cataldi, TVi News & Entertainment Co**

Beneath his name was a phone number for her to call. Her hands froze over the keys, and her heart gave a jolt before jumping into overtime. How did they find her? Who had told them? Her hands shook as she brought them to hold her head up. She tried to gulp air, but only came up with shallow breaths.

"Hey, where do you want the- Marinette? Are you okay?" Manon stood in the doorway leading to the back room, her eyes full of concern.

Marinette tried to speak, but her voice failed her. Instead, she shook her head.

"Tikki! Come in here, I think Marinette's about to faint."

There was a sound of rapid pattering , and Tikki appeared beside Manon. "What's going on?" She rushed to Marinette's side, resting a motherly hand on her forehead. "Are you sick?"

Marinette shook her head.

"Are you okay?"

Marinette shook her head.

"What's wrong?"

In response, she pointed to the screen where the email was still pulled up. Tikki leaned forward to read it , and Manon crowded in behind them. After Manon read it , she let a swear slip that startled Marinette enough to get her to turn and look at her.

"I'm so sorry , Marinette, this is my fault. Alec works with my mother. That's probably how he found out who you were."

Marinette took a shaky breath, Manon's distress helping pull her out of her own panic. "It's okay. It's not your fault," she told her quietly.

Tikki was gently stroking the top of Marinette's head. "There, there, love. Feeling better now?"

Marinette gave a small smile, embarrassment settling in as the panic ebbed out. "Yes, thank you. I'm sorry. I'm being silly."

"Of course not!" Tikki exclaimed.

Manon said, "Well, only a little."

"Manon!" Tikki said in a chastising tone.

Manon shrugged, unrepentant. "Well, she runs around everywhere dressed up as a superhero and giving speeches and signs and everything, but she can't handle an interview as Marinette? What's the difference?"

Manon's blunt words hit her hard, and Marinette cringed she knew it was stupid and irrational.

Tikki was far less tolerant of the teenager's words. "Manon! Just because you could do it, doesn't mean everyone else can. We all have different strengths, which means we also all have different weaknesses. Neither of us could match you in dance skill and likewise Marinette's creativity with fabric and pen outshines you and I."

Trust Tikki to simultaneously chastise and praise in the same breath. Manon's head was downturned when she spoke next. "I'm sorry, Marinette."

Marinette stood up to wrap her arms around the brunette. "It's alright, Manon."

They stood like that for a while before Tikki cleared her throat, breaking up the moment. "Lovely as this is, we are all here to get paid. Manon, I need your help getting that purple fabric from the top shelf. You know I'm too short to reach it."

Manon gave a small chuckle and left to go help. Tikki turned, paused, and then took a step closer to Marinette. "While there is no shame in being in front of a crowd without a mask, you might want to seriously consider whether or not this guy is worth facing it, because I get the feeling that this attention isn't going to go away. If you can't handle it, best cut it off now before either of you hurt worse."

With that she took her leave, leaving Marinette by herself once more. She thumped her head on the desk with a groan. "Gosh darn it, Tikki! Why'd you have to be so wise?" she muttered.

Her email pinged, and she sat up with a shake. This was a problem for future Marinette. For now, she needed to reply to these emails and sketch out that prom dress. She needed to get the design approved so she could start buying any necessary fabric. She sighed and brought her attention to the screen. Time to get to work.

* * *

 **Again, thank you all for following me this far, it means the world to me. Lots of love and hugs!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Another chapter. Not sure what else to say. I think it's cute.**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug**

* * *

It was the woman's third pass by her shop, and Marinette had a sneaking suspicion that she knew what the woman was there for. Every time she passed, she wasn't looking at the displays in the window or the clothes in the store; she was looking at Marinette herself. Marinette sighed and tried to brace herself for when the woman would inevitably pluck up the courage to come inside.

Briefly, she played with the idea of just going into the back and letting Manon take care of her, but that wasn't fair to her employee. This was her problem to deal with. In another thirty minutes, she could put up the closed sign and that would solve the problem. One could dream.

Apparently, she didn't dream hard enough, because about ten minutes to close the woman finally slipped into the now empty store. She was petite, with her honey blond hair pulled back in a stylish ponytail. She approached Marinette with a bright smile, bringing her hand out to shake. "Hi, my name is Aurore. I'm an underwriter to M. Alec Cataldi."

Marinette shook the offered hand, but kept her face in a guarded, neutral expression. "How can I help you?"

"Well, you never got back to us on that interview, so we thought that we'd drop by and ask you in person."

"How did you find me?" Marinette asked, genuinely curious.

"Your name isn't exactly a common one. We Googled it. Only three people came up, and you were the only one in the right age bracket on Facebook, and you look like the girl in the photo going around. Your home page is connected to your work page on Facebook, so that's how I knew you'd be here," Aurore's smile did nothing to stop Marinette's growing horror. They got all that from Google and Facebook?

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can help you. If you're not here to buy something, please leave. I need to start closing up," Marinette said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Wait," Aurore said. "If I found you that easily, imagine how much easier it would be for someone else to do the same. Someone who might not be nice enough to ask permission before they start writing about you, or take another photo."

Before Marinette could come up with a retort, the back door opened once more, and Manon stepped out. "I'm done cleaning. I was going to punch out for the day, if that's alright with you- Oh, hello Aurore."

Both women turned to the newcomer. Aurore raised her eyebrow in surprise, but it was Marinette who spoke. "You know her?"

"Yeah, she works at the same place as my mom. She's the ghost writer for the romance advice column 'Stormy Weather'."

"Hang on," Marinette said, turning back to Aurore, "if you write the romantic advice column, what are you doing here trying to get the scoop on my dating Adrien?"

"So you are dating Adrien?"

"Whether she is or is not is none of your business. She asked you a question," Manon said, stepping forward defensively in front of her boss.

Aurore crinkled her nose and left out a frustrated huff. "I overheard Mme. Chamack and M. Cataldi talking in the breakroom about you. I thought that if I could find you and if you agreed to do the interview with me, then it would up my chances of getting a promotion. Do you know how unfair it is to be a ghost writer? I just want people to see my name."

"That still doesn't excuse poking your nose in like you did," Manon said.

"I wasn't talking to you," Aurore snapped before turning back to Marinette, impatience bleeding into her tone. "I'm just saying that it would be better for the interview to come from a friend who can make sure that you're fairly represented than some stranger."

"You're not a friend," Manon sneered. "She's never met you before today."

"Friend of a friend, then. Look, do we have a deal or not?"

Before Manon could open her mouth to object, Marinette put her hand on the other girl's shoulder. "Manon," she said, quietly, but sternly. The girl turned back to her, up in arms and ready to defend her even from herself. "I believe you were going to clock out. You have my permission to head out early. Thank you for everything today."

Manon wilted, the fight leaving her, and she walked out, but not before turning and staring down Aurore. She raised her pointer and middle fingers in a "V" and pointed them at herself before flipping them around to point at Aurore, the action for 'I'm watching you', then stalked out, slamming the door behind her.

Marinette gave a small sigh at the teenager's attitude before turning to face Aurore once more. "I'm sorry you had to come all this way for nothing, but I'm really not comfortable doing interviews."

Aurore looked put out, but nodded. "If you change your mind, here's my number." She handed her a plain, white card with black font that said 'Aurore Beauréal' with a phone number and email beneath it.

Marinette took it, putting it into her pants' pocket. "Thank you. Have a nice day."

Aurore only gave a nod in acknowledgement before she headed out, the door jingling behind her. As she watched her go, Marinette felt her phone vibrate and slipped it out to check it. It was a text from Adrien.

Are you still at work?

Frowning, she entered her reply. Yes, but I should be heading out in the next 30 minutes.

Oh good. Is he there yet?

Before she could even ponder what that meant, there was tapping on the glass of the front door. She looked up to see a man in a delivery uniform holding an enormous bouquet of flowers. She gasped and rushed to open the door for him.

"Delivery for a Marinette Dupain-Cheng," he said, glancing down at his clipboard.

"I-I'm she," Marinette stuttered, holding out her arms to accept to bouquet he handed off.

"Please sign here."

"Oh, umm yes. Just one second." She made her way over to the checkout counter and set the flowers down before turning back to the man. She signed and handed the clipboard back to him. "Do I owe you anything?"

"No. It's all paid for. Have a good day Mlle. Dupain-Cheng," he said with a nod of his hat and left just as quickly as he'd entered.

Marinette was shuffling about with the giant bouquet, trying to figure out where to put it, when she heard the door open one more time. "I'm sorry, we're closed."

"Do you need some help with that?" A deep, amused voice asked. One that sounded very familiar.

She peered around the flowers and almost dropped them in surprise. "Adrien!"

He reached over and pulled them from her hands, with a wide grin on his face. "The one and only."

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I got off work early and thought I'd drop by. I'm glad I caught you," he said, looking around for somewhere to put the flowers. "Do you have a vase or a sink I could put these in?"

"Uh, yeah. There's a sink in the employee room." She smiled when he continued to look around confused. "Let me show you where that is."

She led him to the back room, which was a hallway with three doors. One lead to a bathroom, a second lead to the changing and fitting room for customers, and the third she opened to show Adrien the room full of sewing supplies and a fridge, microwave and sink so they could eat . Marinette would admit that during busy season she practically lived in this little room. He placed the flowers in the sink before turning back to her with a grin. It was then that she noticed he had something else in his hands.

"Adrien, what's that?"

He glanced down at the black object in his hand, then held it out to her with a nervous grin. "Alya told me your shoe size. I know we talked about going together, but if your day was anything like mine, I wanted to get you something to apologize for the trouble."

She accepted and examined what looked like little black flats. A flash of red caught her eye, and she noticed they had red bottoms. Carefully, she flipped them back over to check inside the shoe. Yup, she was right. "Adrien. Did you buy me Louboutin ballet flats?"

He beamed. "Yeah, the lady at the store recommended them. She said you'd like them. I thought they were cool because they were red and black like Ladybug."

She looked up at him, gobsmacked. "Do you know how much these cost?"

He shrugged. "I wasn't really paying attention. I just handed my card over to the lady." Her shock was so palpable that she choked when she next tried to speak. His smile slipped as he looked at her with concern. "Do you not like them? Did I do something wrong?"

She took a deep breath and calmed herself. "No, that's not it. Adrien, I love them. It's just that no one's ever spent that much money on me before, and you just went and did it without thinking twice."

He pursed his lips in confusion. "So did I do a good thing or a bad thing?"

She grabbed his head and pulled it down to meet hers. The kiss was ridged and awkward at first from his shock, but Adrien quickly overcame it and wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer. She let it go on a little longer before she pulled back to give him a smile. "Good. Very good, but don't ever do it again. For the record, I would have been just as happy with ten-euro flats as with these."

He blinked a couple times, and she swore she could see his brain restarting. He grinned down at her, and his hold around her waist tightened. "But my purrrincess deserves only the very best."

A camera clicked, and they both turned to see Tikki standing in the doorway, holding up her phone. She gave them an impish grin. "Oh, don't mind me. You two are absolutely adorable. Just continue like I was never here. By the way, I'm clocking out now, Marinette, and just wanted to let you know I was leaving. It's just the two of you now. All alone. By yourselves. With no one after me to walk in on you." She walked past them with a wink and a wave before heading out the door that lead to the alleyway exit.

Marinette's face was burning as she buried it into Adrien's chest. When he leaned down, she could feel his cheek pressed against the top of her head. He shook gently, and she knew he was laughing. "Shut up," she muttered in his chest.

He pulled away to look down at her. "But, My Lady, your friends are so a-mew-sing."

"Keep laughing, and you'll find yourself single."

"That would imply that I'm not single now." His eyes sparkled with excitement, and he practically purred as he spoke.

"I- You- Gah!" Marinette said, or rather didn't say, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

You're incredibly adorable, I hope you know that," he said, leaning down to nuzzle her neck.

"You're being very forward for having just started dating," Marinette said with a boop of his nose and a gentle push.

"I just can't hold myself back anymore, I've been waiting for this for so long," he said, despite the fact that did actually pull back when she used her finger.

"No, you were trying to date Ladybug for the longest time."

He blinked down at her. "I fail to see the difference."

"You never once thought about trying to date Marinette." She wasn't chastising or angry, just stating a fact.

He frowned. "Okay, first off, I did think about asking you out as Marinette because your amazingness shines through with or with a mask. I just didn't because I'd asked Ladybug first and don't like the idea of asking multiple girls out at once. Also, I figured you, Marinette, were too busy with your sewing business."

Marinette rolled her eyes to try and hide the fact that her knees had nearly given out at his sweet words. "So, of course, once you found out that I'm seamstress by day and pretend-superhero by night, you figured I obviously had time to date you even more than when you thought I was just one of the two."

"No," he said, leaning down to nuzzle her again, "when I found out you were both, I knew you were too impossibly purrrrfect for me to pass up."

She turned to thump her head against his chest with a groan. "Stop doing that!"

"What?" he asked, concern in his tone suggesting he thought she was actually mad.

"Saying words that turn my brain to mush and make me fall for you all over again," she said, trying to glare at him.

His face split into a Cheshire grin. His arm slipped behind her back, and before she could register what was happening, he had dipped her and she was hanging by his arm, with one foot up in the air, her face very close to his. "Falling for me, My Lady?"

This- this- this DORK! She pulled him closer and kissed him until she had the confidence to pull back and said, "I already fell."

His eyes lit up and he brought her face towards his once more with a whispered, "Marinette."

Warmth flooded everywhere his hands touched, building and spreading to a heat that promised to consume her. She grasped at his shirt and sighed into the kiss to let him know she approved of the deepening kiss. He made a hum of pleasure of his own that almost sounded like a purr to her. His arm around her lower back tightened, and she could feel his muscles flex. He pulled her tighter against him until their torsos were flush.

The loud banging of someone knocking on her glass window pulled them apart with a jolt, both gasping in the embrace as they tried to come back to themselves. The knocking repeated, and Marinette reluctantly stepped back, running a hand through her hair as she did to make sure it wasn't too messed up. She muttered a curse then gave him a smile to let him know that it wasn't directed at him. "I think I forgot to put up the closed sign. Give me a minute."

His arms hesitated before releasing her with a step back. Marinette had to bite back a whine at the loss of warmth. "I'll go with you."

She nodded her assent and headed back out to the front area. His long legs overtook hers, and he reached the door before her to hold it open for her. Her face was turned to smile at him so she didn't catch a good glimpse of the brunette on the other side of glass who took off when Adrien came into view. By the time Marinette turned to look, it was just a blur of orange and white and brown jogging away.

Marinette frowned, wondering what had made the person disappear after knocking so insistently but shook it off and decided she should close up shop before someone else tried to come in. Adrien leaned on the counter with all the ease of a model, like his comic counterpart, Felix. Marinette flitted about drawing down the window protection, turning off lights, and locking everything up for the night. Once done, she looped her arm through Adrien's and lead him back to the room they had just been making out in, turning everything off as they went. Adrien made sure to pick up Marinette's new black shoes as he went, which had been dropped when things had gotten heated.

"We'll have to go out through the back. I hope that's not too far from where you parked," Marinette said.

"It's fine," Adrien assured her. "Actually, I wanted to know how you were planning to get home."

She blinked in surprise at the question. "I was just going to take the Metro."

"Can I give you a ride? I figured you might want to avoid crowds right now, in case you were recognized."

"Umm, I don't know cars, but I'm pretty sure that the car you drove last night was pretty conspicuous."

"Today, I drove my inconspicuous car," he told her with a grin as they exited the building.

She paused in her footsteps to stare at him. "You own more than one car?"

"Yeah, I'll show you my collection some time."

She still hadn't moved. Shock had started to settle in. She'd known Adrien was well off, but today put in perspective just how much so that was. He'd bought her Louboutin shoes without a second thought, was apparently one of the most sought-after bachelors in France, and he just said he had a car collection. How on earth did she match this new information with the dork who had this side of stalked her at every signing, Comic Con, and other events she'd attended as Ladybug? "A collection implies you've got three or more," Marinette said.

He grinned. "I would lean towards the 'or more' side."

"Just how much money do you freakin' have?" she demanded.

Now it was his turn to pause in his walk. They were now at the lip of the alleyway leading out onto the street adjacent to her shop. "You didn't know?"

"I mean, I knew you weren't poor from your costume requests. Not everyone can afford that quality of fabric, but the fact that it's not just me, but all of Paris that sees you as some kind of Adonis of desire? No, I didn't know that, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."

He threw his arms around her in a glomp. She yelped and stumbled backwards. She probably would have cracker her head against the brick wall behind her if he hadn't completely enveloped her in a hug. "You didn't know and you still said yes to a date with me."

People were staring at the spectacle, Marinette felt her face heat up as she reached out to pat him on the back. "You know how much I hate attention as Marinette, I think it's a greater testament to how much I like you that I'm agreeing to a second date now that I _do_ know." Tikki's advice came back to whisper in the back of her mind, but she pushed it away. That was a problem for future Marinette.

She could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. "Very true, My Lady, I should count myself doubly lucky then."

Marinette blushed, not sure how to respond to that other than to snuggle in to the hug and revel in his warmth. They stayed like that until someone walked by and gave a disapproving cough. The couple broke apart, red-faced. Adrien stepped back and offered Marinette his arm. "Well then, My Lady, I believe I promised you a ride home."

She looped her arm through his, grinning up at him through her blush. "Which I wholeheartedly accept, Kitty."

His eyes light up at the nickname, and they walked down the street arm in arm. As the turned the corner, Marinette thought she saw another glimpse of orange and white and brown, but by the time she'd turned to check, it was gone. She shrugged it off and returned her focus to Adrien, neither aware of the pair of green eyes glaring at their retreating backs.

* * *

 **Something special coming up next chapter at the request of one of you lovely reviewers! Keep an eye out for it!**

 **Oh, and a warning. I'm studying for a national licensing exam for my job. Depending of some circumstances I might have to temporarily put this story on hiatus so I can study, depending on how soon I need to take the test.**


	7. Chapter 7

**So today is from the perspective of Alya at the request of one of you lovely readers. I was going to include more, but decided that I didn't want to switch back and forth between perspectives and the next scene will be back in Marinette's perspective. If I feel I'm good enough at getting in his mind, maybe one day I'll try to do one from Adrien's or perhaps Nino. Thoughts?**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Alya sat at her favorite coffee shop, strumming her fingers against the table as she waited. She picked up her phone and wrote out a quick message before returning her attention to her laptop.

 **So how did driving her home go?**

 **Good. Thanks for the advice. Though I got mixed signals on the shoes.**

 **What did she do?**

 **She said she loved them, but then told me to never do it again.**

 **Translation: She loved them and you should so do it again.**

 **But she told me not to**

 **She's Mari, she'd never ask anyone to spend lots of money on her, but we both know my girl deserves it! But do it sparingly so you don't freak her out.**

 **So what do you suggest I do?**

 **Give her lots of cheap or homemade little presents whenever you want, but save the expensive stuff for special occasions.**

 **What qualifies as a special occasion? Because I feel like every time she smiles at me is a miracle that should be celebrated as one.**

 **Lols, easy there lover boy. You already have the best friend stamp of approval, no need to go overboard**

 **#sorrynotsorry**

 **So are you coming or not? I've been waiting 30 min and if you have to go to another meeting I'm going to leave.**

 **Almost there**

 **ETA?**

 **Look up**

Alya looked up from her phone and turned her head towards the door in time to see a familiar blond walk in and move towards her. She waved to him and pointed towards the chair opposite hers. He sat down and chugged the coffee she placed in front of him then screwed up his face in disgust. "What is that?"

"I don't even know. I dared the barista to make me a suicide of their menu," Alya told him with a grin.

"Why?" Adrien coughed after swallowing the caustic concoction of caffeine and sludge.

"Because I come here all the time, and sometimes they test out new flavor ideas on me. I find trying something new every now and then is good for the creative brain."

"Not that. Why did you give it to me?"

She gave him a mischievous grin. "Because I thought it'd be funny."

"Next time, you drink it. I'm not your Guinea pig," he said, sounding only mildly irritated.

She grinned and lifted her own cup to her lips. "Who's to say I didn't? If you don't like it, I can buy you a new one, Sunshine."

"No, no," he said, waving her off and rising from the seat he'd only just taken. "I'll buy something myself. I don't trust you anymore."

She pouted at him. "Boo! You're no fun."

"No, I just want to live to see tomorrow."

"You should try The Sunshine. It's one of my favorites. Also, I helped make it."

He narrowed his eyes. "What's in it?"

"Just a latte with some honey and lemon," she assured him.

"Oh, that actually doesn't sound that bad."

Alya threw her hand over her heart dramatically. "I am offended!"

Adrien rolled his eyes and went to get the coffee. Alya watched him go with a grin.

Growing up, her mother would tell her the story of a little mouse who wanted to find a husband. The mouse's grandmother had told her that any man she wanted to marry, she had to spill coffee on him first to find out what kind of man he was. The moral of the story was that you should know what someone's temper was like before you got into a serious relationship with them. While Alya knew actual coffee wasn't necessary for the test, she'd found that few things showed just how irritated a person could get better than caffeine deprivation. Being given a terrible cup of coffee was also pretty high up there. He didn't know it, but he'd just passed a test.

The shop wasn't that busy this time of day, so it didn't take him that long to return with a fresh cup of drinkable coffee. "What are you working on?" Adrien asked, eyeing her laptop with curiosity.

"Writing the script to volume nine."

"Wow! Can I read it?" he asked excitedly.

"No," she told him, closing the laptop. "There are too many spoilers for volume eight, and before you ask, no you can't read that either. You can wait for it to come out next month like everyone else."

Adrien's face screwed up in a pout, then just as quickly brightened again. "Right, you guys are doing that signing event."

"I assume you'll be there," Alya said, an amused expression on her face.

"Absolutely. Wouldn't miss it for the world," he assured.

"The question is, what will you be coming as?"

He cocked his head to the side in question, and Alya continued, struggling to hold in her excitement. She had been waiting for this opportunity from the moment Adrien expressed interest in Marinette. "Will you be coming as a fan attendee? Will you be coming with us? Will you, perhaps, be dressing up as a certain red-spotted heroine's leather-clad compatriot?"

His eyes widened. "I could be Chat Noir!"

"I mean, you look a little like the comic book character. We could talk to Mari about you being our official Chat at events. The fans would go nuts over that."

"What do you mean 'look a little like'? Marinette already told me that the character was based off me," Adrien said.

Alya raised her eyebrows, giving him an impressed look. "Oh, she admitted that? I wasn't sure if she would. She was worried you'd think she was some kind of creeper or something."

He chuckled. "Like I haven't been just as bad with her Ladybug persona."

"True. You'll make adorable stalker babies together." Adrien flushed red at the comment, but Alya didn't say anything about it. "We can talk to Marinette about that later. Today, we're focusing on planning for your next date."

Adrian grinned. "I already have that planned."

"Good job. What is it?"

"I still have those reservations for Le Grand Véfour. I was going to take her there."

Alya nodded her approval. "Good, but that's not for a while, right?"

"Right, but I couldn't get them to move the date up any sooner."

"So what casual date are you going to do in the mean time?"

He blinked at her in confusion.

Alya resisted the urge to sigh. "Okay, Sunshine. Things like your first date are fancy-schmancy stuff that are great every now and then, but if you do it every time, Marinette will start to feel uncomfortable. You need to do simple, cheap stuff too."

"But anyone else I've ever dated only wanted the fancy stuff," Adrien said, confused.

"Sunshine, Marinette isn't like anyone else you've ever dated. That's why you're dating her."

His smile turned dreamy. "Yeah."

"Oh, you sweet cinnamon roll," she muttered under her breath before snapping her fingers in front of his face. "Focus. I have an idea!" She made sure she had his attention, watching his eyes snap into focus and out of whatever daydream he'd been having about her best friend, his face only a little pink, before continuing. "Why don't you do a double date with Nino and I? Dinner and a movie at our apartment."

"Sure," he said brightly. "That sounds like fun."

"Okay. You talk to Marinette, and I'll talk to Nino," Alya said, pulling her phone out to text her boyfriend.

Alya's phone buzzed almost immediately. "Nino's good. I guess we'll see you tomorrow night then, since I already know what Marinette's answer will be."

"Wait, why not tonight?"

"Because I already claimed Mari tonight so we can work on our next volume. We have writing day at least once a week, so you'll have to share her with me."

"I'd love to join you and watch. I promise I wouldn't get in the way," he said with an eager look that reminded Alya of a puppy.

She leaned across the little table and gave him a little pat on the cheek. "While that does sound like fun, I don't think that it's a good idea this time around. Maybe next time."

They finished up their drinks and finalized plans before heading their separate ways.

* * *

 **So just a quick update- The people I was talking to said that it probably wouldn't pan out to have me work the event that they wanted me to do this time around since they are doing this for the first time, but good news, for those who care, is that they say they can almost definitely hire me for next year. Essentially, what that means for you is that I won't have to go on hiatus for the story.**

 **Also, shout out to Starlin's Ghost for helping me plot out and clarify the rest of this story! You're the best!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I will admit that this chapter is a little filler. It does help prep for some things that are coming later on.**

 **Also, special comment to the guest that commented on the last chapter-**

ooooh~ mari is certainly going to be flushed seeing him tight leather and cat ears ;)

 **Yes. this is something I am building up to. A lovely LadyNoir moment. ;)**

 **Now on with the story!**

 **I own nothing Miraculous Ladybug**

* * *

Two nights later, Adrien pulled into Alya's apartment complex with Marinette beside him. It had become a habit between them for him to come pick her up after work. Marinette was enjoying the time that they spent together and the chivalry Adrien was showing her. Like right now, how he hopped out of the car and rushed over to her side to get the door for her. He did that every time.

As they walked up, Adrien slipped an arm around her shoulders. "So I think I forgot to ask –, what are we eating tonight?"

"Alya said she was in charge, so probably Chinese takeout," Marinette said as they entered the building. She led themtook the lead and lead the up the familiar stairs to the second floor where Alya and Nino lived.

"I thought she worked from home," Adrien said.

Marinette snorted. "That doesn't equivalate an ability to cook."

Adrien laughed. "Fair enough."

They reached the apartment door, shortly after and Marinette knocked. The door immediately swung open to reveal Alya covered in flour. "Nino, they're here!" she called over her shoulder before gesturing toand them and pulling the door open further. "Come in. Come in."

Marinette entered cautiously, sniffing the air as she did. "I don't smell anything burning. Why are you covered in flour?"

Alya rolled her eyes. "I'll have you know that Nino prepared tonight's dinner. Everything is safe."

"That still doesn't explain why you're covered in flour," Marinette said.

"Because she wouldn't get out of the kitchen," a male voice called. Nino appeared from behind the wall that Marinette knew lead to the kitchen. He was equally covered in flour, though a black apron titled 'Kiss the Cook' did save him from getting most of the damage on his clothes.

"So you threw flour at her?" Adrien asked as Alya shut the door behind them.

Alya grinned and walked over to give her boyfriend a kiss. "And I threw it right back."

When she turned her back to them, they noticed a flour mark in the shape of a hand across her back side. Marinette choked on a laugh that she barely managed to turn into a cough. Adrien looked away, mildly embarrassed. He wondered ifs they had interrupted something.

Nino smiled over his girlfriend's shoulder. "I'm almost finished up in here. Go ahead and take a seat. Marinette can show you where. Babe, would you like to help me carry stuff out?" Tthe last comment was aimed at his girlfriend, who grinned up at him.

"Why, Nino, are you asking me to do woman's work?"

"Only because with equal rights it means we both work in the kitchen. Besides, we both know who the real sandwich maker is in this house."

They turned to head back into the kitchen, and Marinette saw that Nino's derriere had a similar, though smaller, handprint over the pocket of his jeans. Marinette put a hand over her mouth to smother a giggle and lead Adrien down the hallway to the open front room where a table sat under an open window to the kitchen wedged between the wall and a couch with barely enough room to fit the four chairs that surrounded the rickety little card table. The table had been set with a simple, clean white table cloth which Marinette thought contrasted nicely with the deep blue tableware they had set out.

Adrien leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I think we interrupted something."

Marinette grinned up at him. "I was just thinking the same thing. They're always like this though. It's pretty entertaining."

Adrien looked over at the two in the kitchen who were laughing as Nino tried to take a dish away from Alya's overfilled hands. "I bet. Are they always that energetic?"

"Yeah, they tone it down in public, and when they're at conventions and stuff they're in work mode so they're not as. . ." Sshe hovered, trying to think of the right word before settling on, ". . . playful."

Adrien smiled and reached to pull out Marinette's chair. She sat with a grateful smile. "I'm glad I finally get to hang out with Nino., Hhe seems like a cool dude."

Marinette smiled fondly. "He is. He's like the big brother I never got, and he's good for Alya."

"You know, I don't think I know much about your family. Do you have any siblings?"

Marinette nodded. "Just an older sister. You already met her."

Before he could ask who, Alya and Nino appeared both laden with food and now relatively free of flour. They must have washed up in the kitchen. "Alright my dudes and dudettes, dinner is served."

They set what food they could on the little table and whatever didn't fit was placed on the ledge of the little opening that lead to the kitchen. There was a bowl of shredded meat, another of cheese, and various chopped vegetables in containers of their own. Alya was dishing out tortillas onto everyone's plate. Marinette could tell they were homemade from their misshapen form. The tortillas must have been what lead to the flour fight that they had interrupted.

"Nino, I thought you worked today. How did you have time to make all this?"

He grinned over at her as he loaded up a tortilla. "It's a pretty quick meal to assemble really. The thing that takes the longest is the chicken, and I just put that in thea crockpot before I left this morning."

"I chopped the vegetables," Alya added.

"And we're all very proud of you," Marinette told her, giving her a pat on the head the way one would when praising a small child.

"What do you do for work?" Adrien asked.

"I'm a sound technician at Jagged Studios," he said, taking a large bite of his burrito.

Adrien leaned forward in interest. "What do you do there?"

Nino shrugged and swallowed his bite. "Most days I'm just a glorified janitor with an advanced degree in music theory."

"He's being modest," Alya said, reaching out to put a hand on his. "He runs the sound booth when people come to use the facility and oversees equipment management."

"That's cool. Meet anyone famous?" Adrien asked.

"Well, I know Ladybug personally," Nino said, giving Marinette a smirk.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't count, you dork. He means people that came to your work."

"Eh, famous is relative to which circles you run in. I could tell you I met Jim Dale, but you'd have no idea who that was. It's largely people coming to make audio books, we do a lot of business with some publishing companies around the area. Second most popular is local iIndie bands, but not a lot of really famous people come through. We're not a very big facility."

"That's cool," Adrien said, and he looked like he meant it.

"Babe, you didn't tell him about your other job," Alya said.

Now it was Nino's turn to roll his eyes. "It's only a job if you get paid for it."

She batted her eyelashes at him and pursed her lips in a slight pout. "Don't I pay you in kisses?"

He smiled over at her and leaned in for one. "Then I am a very rich man." He got his kiss, then straightened to turn his attention back to Adrien. "I help with anything tech that these two decide to do in regards to Ladybug. That theme song they released last year? I wrote that. And I help with any of the promotional or fan-special videos they make of Marinette dressed as the lady in red. I do some stuff for the Ladyblog, but Alya's pretty much learned how to do it all herself by now, so instead of coming to me every time she wants to turn the camera on, now I just come whenever she's trying to do something fancy."

Alya elbowed him. "I was never that bad."

"That theme song was awesome," Adrien said.

"Thanks, dude," Nino said with an easy grin as he rubbed his ribs. "Do you want to see some of my original stuff?"

"I'd love to."

The rest of dinner was easy conversations about music preferences and Alya and Nino sharing embarrassing stories about each other. Marinette occasionally joined in, though she tried to tone it down from normal., Sshe didn't want Adrien feeling like an outsider. Nino, bless him, seemed to pick up on this as well.

As he and Alya gathered the dinner plates, he turned to Adrien. "So I heard that your first date with Nettie was quite the adventure."

Adrien grinned good naturedly. "More of a _mis_ adventure."

"You can tell me more while I show you that album," Nino said gesturing to a room off on the left side. that Marinette knew it ledlead to the office space that Alya and Nino shared. The two boys went in with Nino shutting the door behind him, though the girls could still hear the muffled sounds of music through the thin walls.

"They seem to be getting along," Alya said as she flopped onto the couch.

"Yeah, I'm glad," Marinette said as she sat down beside her friend.

"By the way, he passed my test."

Marinette glared over at her friend. "Alya, no. You didn't. Please tell me you didn't."

Alya inspected her nails in feigned innocence. "I can certainly tell you I didn't, Mari, but that doesn't mean I'll be telling you the truth."

"Alyaaaa!" Marinette groaned. "Please tell me that you didn't spill coffee on him."

"Oh, heaven's no. He was coming from a business meeting. I don't know how much that suit cost him. I'm not paying for that drycleaners bill. I gave him a suicide of coffee drinks."

Marinette wrinkled her nose. "That sounds disgusting."

Alya shuddered. "It was."

"I thought you made him drink it?"

"I did, but I had to make sure it was bad enough to use for the test, so I got one for me too and then you know how I feel about wasting coffee., so I had to drink the whole thing."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Well, that's some consolation at least."

"Hey! How dare you revel in my misery! After I did such a nice thing for you, too," Alya said,. trying to glare at her best friend, but her lip kept twitching.

Marinette was spared the need to retort by the office door bursting open. Adrien came out excitedly brandishing a worn-out sketchbook in his hands. A very familiar old sketch book. Marinette paled and flipped over the back of the couch, which would have looked awesome had she not tripped the second she started running for Adrien. He caught her, though, and pulled her up, putting her in grabbing distance of the book. She snatched it from his hands, pulling it up against her chest. "Don't look at it!"

Nino came into the room laughing. "Too late for that, Nettie. He's already flipped through the whole thing."

Marinette groaned and looked over at the darker-skinned boy. "Why?" she whined. "Why would you show him my awful first drafts."

Nino smiled easily. "Dude's a hardcore fan. I figured he'd appreciate it. You should have seen the near conniption he had looking at some of the early Chat Noir art."

Marinette groaned and covered her face. When they'd first been writing the story line, they had seriously considered having Ladybug and Chat Noir be dating from the start. As a result, she'd drawn out a few make-out scenes and intimate positions to try and get a feel for it. They'd ultimately scrapped it, deciding them not knowing who the other was made a better story line, but the pictures still existed and she'd been picturing Adrien as Chat Noir by that time, which meant she had essentially drawn the two of them doing all those things that she had her characters doing.

Alya laughed and came to join them. "What's wrong? We talked about releasing some of the concept art as part of a special anyway. This is a good way to figure out which ones the audience would be interested in seeing."

Marinette glared at her best friend. "No talking work on dates. Isn't that a rule for you and Nino?"

"Awww, but Mari, did he even see the best ones?" Alya cooed.

Marinette watched Adrien flush bright red and took itthat as a sign that yes, he had seen the '"best ones".' "Nino, I'm revoking your cookie privileges for showing this to him!"

Nino looked stricken. "But- but- "

Adrien stepped up and pulled the book down so he could better look her in the face. His tone was gentle and placating. "Hey, don't blame him. I'm the one that was snooping around. I saw it laying on the table with your name on it, and I got curious."

Marinette scowled, trying to hold onto her indignant anger. It was hard when he was being so gosh darn sincere!

"Your artwork is really good. I thought it was amazing."

"It's old and terrible. I've gotten much better since then," Marinette mumbled, her anger ebbing.

"If this is you being terrible, then I can't wait to see what your're best looks like now. You're incredible."

She blushed. Alya and Nino wisely chose this moment to keep quiet and disappear into the kitchen to give the two some alone time. "Jerk," she said quietly.

"What did I do?"

"I can't stay mad at you when you're like this."

He grinned and leaned down to put a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Pardon me if I don't view that as a bad thing."

Marinette let a grin slip. "No, I suppose you wouldn't see it as a bad thing. Alya, you can come back out here, but I swear, if I find any recordings of what just happened on your phone I'm throwing it in the Seine."

Alya's head popped up over the little window leading into the kitchen, with Nino's right beside her. "I've no idea what you're talking about. I would never record an adorable couple's fight between real, live Ladybug and Chat Noir for views on my blog."

"Uh-huh," Marinette said, her voice dripping in disbelief.

Nino's eyes sparked with an idea. "You know. We could have them dress up as the characters and record them reenacting some stuff from your new comic coming out. It would be great publicity."

Alya nodded in agreement. "It's too late to do it for volume eight. We'd never get it out in time, but there are some solid scenes from volume nine we could do." She wriggled her eyebrows at the two of them.

"I'm down," Adrien said immediately, bouncing excitedly at the prospect.

"I'll think about it," Marinette finally said. "In the mean time, though, I believe we had plans to watch a cheesy romance movie."

"Yes!" Alya shouted. "Nino and I call the couch."

"Where will we sit?" Adrien asked, looking around at the lack of furniture.

"You can either try to cram your two bodies on the little recliner, which I don't recommend, or you can sit on the floor. I can get you some pillows if you need."

The two went over to sit in front of the couch, and Adrien pulled Mari close as he sat down, snuggling up to her. "I'm good. I got all I need right here."

Alya rolled her eyes. "You two are sickeningly adorable. Babe, could you put the movie in and grab the popcorn?"

"On it, babe," Nino said, doing as requested before settling in next to his girlfriend to enjoy the movie.

* * *

 **Thank you all for being so supportive and kind! You're the best.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry that this took so long. I think that it was worth the wait and I hope that you do too!**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Marinette and Adrien walked up to the building and Adrien pulled at his tie.

"Are you nervous?" Marinette asked.

"Well yeah, last time we tried to come here it didn't work out so well," Adrein said.

Marinette looked up at the sign that read Le Grand Véfour and then back to Adrien. "Well if I recall, it did end pretty well for both of us. I mean, at least I agreed to come back."

He smiled and squeezed her hand that he was holding. "Fair enough. I just can't shake the feeling that something is going to happen tonight."

"Maybe it will be something good. Relax Adrien. It'll be fine."

He held the door open for her and they went inside. This time the reservations were for that day and they were escorted to their seats. Light, ambiance music played in the background when they sat. Marinette nervously fiddled with her skirt under the table as they waited for the waiter to bring them their menus.

"How was work?" Adrien asked, tugging lightly at his tie.

"It was good. I'm almost done with one of my orders. I just need to get the client in for her final fitting," Marinette said.

"Nice. What is it?"

"A wedding dress. Taking in that sweetheart neckline to fit her figure and still preserve the embroidery was a real challenge."

"A good challenge or a bad challenge?" Adrien asked.

"A good challenge," Marinette said, then offered a quiet "thank you" when the waiter returned with their menus.

Adrien nodded. "I can understand that. We can get pretty competitive at work."

"Over who can build the best computers?"

"Partially. We have two teams- red and blue. I'm on the blue team - our job is to build the protective software. Red team's job is to try and hack or undo whatever blue team does. My friend Paul can get pretty competitive. He's the best on red team. They call him 'god of destruction' because he's so good."

Marinette laughed. "Sounds like a scary guy."

"Not really. He's full of sarcasm, but he's really nice once you get to know him," Adrien said.

"Huh. I'd like to meet him some day."

"Really?" Adrien's eyes lit up.

"Yeah. I've introduced you to all my best friends. I'd love to meet yours."

They both knew this was a step forward. Marinette thought back to Tikki's words about being sure that being with Adrien was worth it. Seeing that smile on his face, she knew her mind was made up. Who knew you could be so happy by making someone else smile?

The waiter came back, and they made their orders before falling back into silence, but Adrien kept that wide grin on his face.

"You know," Marinette said, breaking the silence, "I don't think I really know much about your family either. Tell me about them."

"I'm sure you could google the answer to that."

She gave him a smile. "Yes, but I didn't. I want to hear it from you."

Marinette hadn't thought it possible for his grin to grow any wider, and she listened with rapt attention as he told her about his family and growing up as an only child in a divorced family. He talked about the hardships of that and how he'd spent a lot of time by himself. Between his parents' expectations and the constant bouncing back and forth, he'd had little chance to make many friends growing up. Aside from those he'd met online.

"That's actually how I met Paul," Adrien said. "We played DoTADota together."

Marinette was about to ask what DoTAta was when they heard a small cough. Both looked up to see a short, nervous woman whose timid attitude didn't match her loud, multicolored hair. "Can I help you?" Marinette asked.

"H-hi. I just saw you and had to confirm- You're Adrien Agreste and his mystery girlfriend, aren't you?"

"That's none of-" Adrien started to say, but Marinette held up a hand to stop him.

"Adrien, it's okay."

He looked at her with concern. "Are you sure?"

She nodded and then turned back to the woman. "My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I'm Adrien Agreste's girlfriend."

The woman squealed and fist pumped, causing nearby patrons to turn and glare at her. "Adrien and Marinette. Oh, I know, Adrienette. I ship it. You two are adorable together. I've been hoping it was true ever since I saw the rumor that the black cat of the thirty under thirty had gone on a second date. I'm so happy for you! I can't wait to hear how you two got together. Can you tell me now?"

An enormous man with black hair, except for a skunk stripe in his bangs, came up red faced and apologetic. "I'm so sorry. She's was just so excited when she saw. She said she had to know. I'm sorry for interrupting your date."

Adrien seemed a little shocked, while Marinette had an amused grin curling up her lip. "It's fine, but if you'll excuse us, we'd like to get back to our date."

The rainbow haired woman nodded. "Of course. Of course. Have fun you two!" She turned to leave, entwining her hand with the gentleman behind her, and they left with her happily chattering away. "You know, he is number thirteen on the list, and I was always worried about him because he had the worst luck with love, but she seems so nice. I'm happy for them. Oh my gosh, can you believe that we met them?!"

Their voices faded off, and Adrien and Marinette turned to face each other once more, suddenly the center of attention in the restaurant. Adrien was staring at her with a pink tinge to his cheeks. Marinette was certain she was blushing too, but she also couldn't keep the grin off her face. She had done it. She had made her decision, and it felt good. Tikki would be so proud of her.

A grin slowly made its way across Adrien's face. "Did you just call yourself my 'girlfriend?'"

Aaaaand confidence gone. "I- Uh, well- I just- I meant-" she took a big breath and forced herself to calm down, but couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes. "Yes. I hope that's okay. I know we haven't really talked about . . ."

She felt his hand wrap around hers, and she stopped fiddling with the fork she'd been holding. It was large and warm and comforting and gave hers a light squeeze. He waited until she looked up before saying, "Marinette, I am _more_ than okay with you calling yourself my girlfriend."

A waiter chose then to appear beside them. "Monsieur and Mademoiselle, I am terribly sorry for the behavior of our patrons. If they have disturbed you in any way-"

"No. No. It's fine," Adrien said, not taking his eyes from Marinette. "Though your timing is perfect, if we could please have our meals packed up, I think we're ready to go."

The waiter looked disappointed, and Marinette guessed he was worried they would leave a poor review of the place. Marinette herself wasn't entirely sure what Adrien had in mind with his sudden asking to leave only half way through their meal. He was staring at her with an intensity that made her insides shiver.

Their food was packed up for them while the waiter brought them their check. Adrien paid, and when they got up to leave he shook the waiter's hand. Marinette saw the cash slip into the waiter's hand and watched his eyes widen when he saw the amount in his palm. "It was a lovely evening, and you were a great host. Thank you."

The waiter could only nod and watch as the two left.

When they got outside Marinette turned to him with a puzzled expression. "Just how much did you tip him?"

Adrien grinned. "Enough."

"He seemed to think it was a lot more than just 'enough'."

"Yes, but this is my new favorite place, and I wanted him to know it."

"And why is that?"

Adrien leaned down to her ear and his voice turned husky and low. "Because this is the place where Marinette Dupain-Cheng officially declared herself my girlfriend. You know this will be all over the tabloids by morning, right?"

Marinette grinned and leaned in close to him. "I know. That's part of why I did it. If I'm going to be with you I don't want to spend the whole time dodging and being secret. My hope is that if I just tell people they'll freak out for a little bit, get over it, and we can go back to dating in peace."

They reached the car, and Adrien held the door open for her before around to the driver side. Instead of turning it on and leaving though, he instead took both of their boxes of food and put them in the back seat then leaned over and pressed his lips to Marinette's. She gasped in surprise, but before she could return the kiss, he pulled back. "Say it again. Please."

"Say what?"

"What you told the woman at the restaurant."

She smiled at him. "I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Adrien Agreste's girlfriend."

His lips crashed onto hers once more, but this time she was ready and returned the kiss with gusto. The angle was awkward with them both twisted in their seats, and Marinette let out a frustrated whine. This time though, they weren't in Adrien's tiny sports car. This time, there was more room. This time, when Adrien pulled her closer, she could slip over to the other side, placing her legs on either side of his as she sat in his lap and pressed herself against his chest. She felt one hand leave her, and the seat went from vertical to near horizontal as it reclined. Adrien's hand came back to her hip.

They lay like that, for how long exactly neither of them knew. Both were far too busy trying to consume each other as the passion raged and grew between them. Eventually Marinette pulled back, gasping. Adrien simply took advantage of the opportunity to express himself along her neck with whispered words and lingering kisses that sent her pulse beating wildly. It was impossible to catch her breath with him doing that to her! That jerk had to know what he was doing to her sanity. She wanted him just as lost as she was.

The last of her functioning thought process sparked an idea, and she leaned over to whisper in his ear, her breath ragged. "Adrien Agreste's girlfriend. What do you think of that, Kitten?"

He groaned, "My lady," and pulled her mouth down to meet with his once more.

* * *

 **So I finally wrote the thing for what happened between chapters 3 and 4 for what happened with the Angry fisherman, the pizza box, and missing shoe. DO you want me to post that in here or put it in as a separate story. I was thinking separate story, but I want to know your opinion.**


	10. Chapter 10

**To all the Americans out there reading this- Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you enjoy the next chapter.**

 **I own nothing Miraculoud Ladybug**

* * *

"They're going to hate me."

Marinette's eyes rolled. "No, they're not. Why on earth would you think that?"

"Because things have been going way too well in my life, which means something bad is bound to be around the corner. And I'm wearing a cat suit, which is weird, and they'll think their daughter is dating some kind of weirdo." Adrien could feel his panic rising, pushing up his throat, and squeezing his lungs.

"Adrien," she said, and he could tell from her even tone that she was trying to be patient, but the way she kept glancing out the car window to the house let him know she really wasn't. "They know we're here to make a promotional video for Ladybug., Mmy parents won't question the cat suit. They're going to love you."

"But what if they don't?" Marinette pulled him in for a hug, which was a little awkward over the car console.

When they pulled back, she gave him a warm smile. "I guess you won't know unless you come meet them."

Adrien gave a nervous nod still felt nervous, but he nodded, and the two walked towards the front door hand in hand. Right before she knocked, she turned and gave him one last encouragement., "Don't worry, they've heard nothing but good things from both me and my sister."

Which made AdrienAdiren remember that there was still something he didn't know. "Wait, who is-"

The door opened, and his words were cut short by Marinette's cry of, "TIKKI!" asand she gave the petit woman on the other side of the door a big hug.

Adrien looked between the two, trying to find any resemblance between themhe two. They were both short, but that was pretty much where the similarities ended. Tikki's violently red hair was nothing like similar to Marinette's blue-black locks. Marinette's skin tone and features hinted at her Asian heritage while the other woman was clearly Caucasian, not a drop of anything in her DNA that would have added some color to her pale, white skin.

The two pulled apart from their hug, and Marinette looked around. "Where's Maman and Papa?"

"In the kitchen. And Alya and Nino arrived a while ago., Tthey already set everything up in your old room."

Marinette nodded and took off for the kitchen., Adrien trailed along behind her in a state of mild shock. Tikki looked up at him with an amused smile. "I take it that she didn't tell you."

"She mentioned that she had a sister, but I never got to find out who exactly."

"Was she keeping that secretout on you on purpose?"

"No, things happened, and I forgot to ask, and she forgot to tell."

She smiled and nodded. "Sounds like Marinette. She probably also didn't tell you that I was adopted."

Adrien jerked a little in surprise, and looked down at her. His mouth opened and closed, but he couldn't find what he wanted to say.

Her grin widened. "I could see the question in your eyes. I know most people aren't comfortable asking that kind of thing because they think it's rude. I don't see the point in hiding it when I obviously don't look like anyone else. Marinette wouldn't think to tell you because to her it's not a thing that matters enough to mention." She smiled fondly in the direction of where her sister had disappeared to.

"Sounds like Marinette," Adrien said, echoing the phrase Tikki had just used.

Said bluenette came around the corne,r pulling with her a petite Asian woman who looked very much like Marinette and a large, very large, alarmingly large, man with a mustache that by itself held enough authority to command an army. "Adrien," she said, coming to a stop, "I want you to meet my maman and papa. Maman and Papa, this is Adrien."

Adrien held out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, M. and Mme. Dupain-Cheng."

Marinette's father sidestepped the outstretched hand and pulled Adrien into a bone- cracking hug. "Call us 'Tom and Sabine.' All Marinette's friend's do."

Adrien barely had time to register that the man's voice wasn't as deep as he thought it would be for a man his size, before he was put down and enveloped in a second hug. Though this one was much gentler and from the tiny Sabine.

"Papa," Marinette said in a warning tone.

"What? Boyfriend has the word 'friend' in it. I can call him your friend. Would you rather I called him your special friend? How about significant other? Oh, what about bae? Kids use that these days, right? How about boy-you-literally-pined-after-for-over-a-year?" His eyes sparkled in amusement at his daughter's increasingly flustered state. Adrien thought it best to keep his mouth shut just then, but he couldn't deny the almost violent burst of happiness that shot through him at being told she'd wanted him that long. It stole his breath, and if people weren't present he'd probably be kissing her right then.

"Tikki! That was a private conversation," Marinette hissed, glaring at her sister, who grinned, who was grinning unrepentantly. She turned, before turning back to her parents., "You know what, friend is fine. Friend is perfect. Just call him that. I gotta go. We need to meet with Alya and Nino and film everything while the lighting is good."

She grabbed his hand and hauled him out of there. Adrien, for his part, couldn't keep the wide grin off his face. Especially, not when he could see she was blushing all the way to her ears as he looked at her from behind.

Once he thought they were out of earshot, he pulled her to a stop. He had some things he wanted to get off his chest before they were around people again. She looked up at him when he stopped moving, and Adrien got a good look at just how red her face was. HJust how could anyone be so cute? Focus, Agreste. He mentally chided himself. He got his thoughts back on track enough to ask his question. "Over a year, huh?"

Marinette's red face burned scarlet as its color came dangerously close to matching her mask and suit she was wearing. A lovely, skin-tight suit-.

Focus, Agreste. Marinette barely squeaked in acknowledgement.

He leaned forward to try and catch her eye. "I spent all that time chasing after you, and asking you out only for you to tell me no, and now I find out that you liked me back the whole time?"

"I will kill Tikki," she hissed, still not meeting his eyes.

"You're dodging the question." He was teasing her, he knew, but he couldn't help himself. At some point she'd get her courage back and he'd regret teasing her when it was her turn to make him flush and flounder, but it was the same kind of regret when you eat too many cookies:. You might groan a little at your discomfort, but that doesn't mean that you're not 100% going to do it again (because he would. Every. Single. Time.), because it's just too good not to.

"In my defense, you were asking out Ladybug, not Marinette. Ladybug doesn't date., Sshe has to keep her identity a secret."

Adrien couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed that he hadn't gotten her to stutter. StillNevertheless, he persisted. "But you still knew the whole time that I liked you and didn't do anything about it?"

"Oh trust me, she did something about it. Not all of Bridgette's antics around Felix are based entirely in fiction," a familiar voice said.

The two jumped apart to see a highly amused Alya staring at them with her arms crossed. Nino was right behind her with a camera in hand.

"ALYA!" Marinette wailed, her face definitely as red as her suit now.

Alya just gave a cheeky wink. "If you could save all the flirtations and steamy stare- downs that you two have for the camera today, the fandom would be much appreciative."

Adrien was only half listening to Alya, too busy trying to think up every antic Bridgette had gotten up to with Felix and decide which ones Marinette could have possibly have pulled off.

* * *

 **Okay, so I'm not really seeing on opportunity to input that little extra bit for what happened between Ch 3 and 4 in this story easily so I'm just going to put it in a stand alone. Those interested in finding out what happened with the angry fisherman, the pizza box, and the missing shoe feel free to go and look at it. It's called- The Angry Fisherman, The Pizza Box, And the Missing Shoe**

 **(I know, I'm sooo original with my titles :P)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Merry Christmas ya'll! Sorry I haven't update this one in a while. I hit some serious writer's block. I'm still not absolutely thrilled with this chapter, but I just can't get any further and I just want to get to the next chapter. Today seemed like a good day to start updating this again. Hope you'll forgive me for taking so long.**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

 **(Just FYI, this is from Alya's perspective)**

* * *

"Cut!" Alya yelled.

Adrien and Marinette paused in their wrestling match on the ground, though neither moved to get out of the position. "Cut, yay? Or cut, we're doing it again?" Marinette asked.

"Doing it again. Adrien, you have to look angry and like you want to hurt her," Alya said.

Adrien looked over at her from where he kneeled atop Marinette. "But I would never hurt My Lady."

Alya's eye twitched in frustration. "Well, right now you're Felix who has been hit by an akuma, so you're not exactly in your right mind. If you don't get it right this time, I swear I will shove Nino in that costume and make him do this scene."

Nino looked over at his girlfriend in alarm from behind the camera, then turned back to Adrien. "Dude, please. She's serious. Just think of something that pisses you off and pretend that it's not Nettie."

Adrien sighed and – reluctantly – got up off his girlfriend to prepare to do the take again. "Can't we just skip this one and get to the part where Ladybug and Chat Noir kiss?"

"Ladybug and Chat Noir don't kiss in this volume," Marinette said as she got up and dusted her suit off.

Adrien wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Well, maybe they should."

Marinette smirked at him, reaching up to grab his bell and pull him down to her eye level. "Get this scene right and maybe they will."

Alya glanced over at Nino's camera to make sure it was still rolling. She had given him strict instructions to not stop no matter what. It would be a nightmare to edit out their real names, but the fans would go freakin' nuts over all this LadyNoir going on. Marinette was going to kill her, but she'd forgive her. . . eventually.

Marinette and Adrien were in position now with Marinette taking a defensive stance and Adrien baring his clawed hands at her. His eyes were closed, and he was taking deep breaths. When he opened them again his brows were drawn down in anger and his mouth open in a snarl.

"Action!" Alya called, not wanting to waste the opportunity of him finally looking in character.

"Give it up. Ladybug. You can't stop me," Adrien growled.

"Chat Noir, don't! We're a team," Marinette said, dropping from her defensive position to hold out a hand to him, her eyes pleading.

"We _were_ a team, but not anymore." He pounced, knocking her hand out of the way as he tackled her to the ground while she let out a shriek.

He raised his hand over her face and gave a vicious growl before shouting, "CATACLYSM!"

Both froze and then turned to Alya who was grinning and giving them a thumbs-up. Nino would edit it later to include the special effects. "Apparently, all we needed to do was bribe the boy with kisses to get him to act."

"Speaking of," Adrien said, then leaned down to steal a peck from Marinette.

Marinette laughed and wrapped her arms around him. "Now, I promised you a proper kiss for getting this scene right." Then she pulled him down and held him there as their lips started to move together.

Alya let them go at it for a moment before she coughed discretely. "Well, if you're done 'paying' him, I think we should move on to the next scene."

"Why can't we film it the whole way through?" Adrien asked, finally getting up off his girlfriend and offering her a hand up.

"Because this is just a teaser trailer. Later, after the volume comes out, we'll have a poll and whichever scene is most popular is the one that we'll reenact the whole way through."

"Why don't we just do all of them now?" Adrien asked.

Alya raised an eyebrow at him. "Two things- one, we don't have a full weekend open to film it all; and two, you haven't proven yourself trustworthy enough to be told spoilers."

Adrien pouted. "I've kept Marinette's secret so far. Shouldn't that count for something?"

"It does," she assured him, "just not enough for me to be spilling all our secrets to you _yet_."

Marinette held out her hand to Alya. "Can I have my phone, please? I wanted to check if one of my clients e-mailed me back yet."

Alya shook her head. "No. We still have a lot of work to do, and while you're here you're on the clock for Ladybug."

Marinette raised an eyebrow of her own. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Alya said, refusing to look her in the eye.

"You're trying to keep me off social media to keep me from freaking out. The incident at the restaurant was almost a week ago. People must have calmed down by now."

"Yeah, but you and Adrien just made it Facebook official yesterday which officially confirms the rumors from the restaurant. I know you, and I remember the freak out you had when you googled Ladybug after your first event as her. We're not going down that road today. This is the only time all four of us are available before the deadline, and you can't be distracted with that."

Marinette stuck her tongue out at her but stopped fighting for her phone.

"Now, chop chop! On to the next scene," Alya said with a wave of her hand.

They got into position to film the next scene, but before they could, Marinette's parents came in each carrying a plate of treats fresh out of the oven.

"We thought we'd come see if you guys could use a break," Tom said.

"No, we're good," Marinette said.

While at the same time Adrien said, "Yes, please!" and made a bee-line for the plate of cookies.

Marinette rolled her eyes, but smiled all the same as she went up to join him beside her parents. "How are you not fat, Chaton?"

"Parkour," he said through a mouthful of cookies.

Tom just laughed. "Come now, sweetheart, you know that the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

"Hey, wait," Adrien said, pausing with a cookie halfway to his mouth. "Didn't you promise to make me cookies at Comic Con?"

Marinette scrunched up her face in concentration, thinking back. "Did I? I might have."

"Oh, our girl's cookies are to die for!" Alya said, coming up to them and taking some cookies for herself and Nino.

"I thought you said that we didn't have time to be fooling around," Marinette said.

"We don't, but Ladybug and Chat Noir baking together would be an adorable little video to post on our YouTube channel," Alya said, excluding the fact that she'd already been planning on using most of the unofficial stuff to do something like that anyway.

Adrien had crumbs on his chin which she had to resist the urge to wipe off as he spoke. "Can we, please?"

Alya smirked as she watched her best friend's will crumble. Even she had to admit that there was no resisting those gorgeous greens and she was nowhere near as weak to puppy-dog eyes as Marinette was. "Fine, but we should do the scene with me hanging out the window first while the lighting is good since that's the last outside one we have to do."

Adrien fist pumped. "Yessss! Marinette cookies!" Then he ran outside so they could film the scene.

Tom chuckled as he and Sabine started heading out. "We'll go check on your sister. She said she wanted to cook tonight's dinner for everyone. You are all staying for dinner, right?"

Marinette was too distracted watching Adrien walk away with a wide smile and a light blush. Alya smiled; her bestie was completely besotted with the guy. She walked over to grab another cookie and smirked at her friend, before saying, "Of course we'll be staying for dinner. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

They left, and Alya waited for her friend to come back to reality, her smirk growing the longer she waited.

This did not go unnoticed by Marinette. "And just what is that look for?"

"You guys have got it bad."

Marinette glanced out the way Adrien had just gone with Nino, and her blush deepened. "I know we've only just started dating a couple of weeks ago, but it feels like we've known each other forever."

"Really, though, you two have known each other a lot longer than that," Alya said, referring to Adrien coming to any and every Ladybug event for the past year and Marinette's interaction with him in his constantly coming to her to get his costumes.

"I know. Part of me is kicking myself for not having said yes to him as Ladybug and getting things started sooner, but on the other hand, I'm glad that things happened the way they did. It makes both of us value our relationship all that much more."

Alya laughed and hugged her friend. "Alright, lover-girl, let's go join your boy outside. If we make him wait longer than is absolutely necessary for cookies, I think he might spontaneously combust."

Marinette laughed and they all went outside to join her boyfriend and finish filming.

Alya allowed herself a chuckle as well. Oh boy, the plans she had for these two.


	12. Chapter 12

**Heyyyy! I'm not dead! here's another chapter. I promise I will finish this story before I completely fall off the face of this earth. Thank you all so much for those that have stuck with me thus far.**

 **I do not own Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Marinette looked over at Adrien. "Are you ready?"

He rubbed his hands nervously across the steering wheel. "Yeah, I think so."

She smiled and put a hand over his. "It's just like at Comic Con."

"Yeah, but then I didn't have a script and people weren't expecting me to be there," Adrien said.

"You'll be great. Come on, let's not be late."

"Oh, my lady is quite the poet," Adrien teased.

Marinette stuck her tongue out at him. "Better a poet than a punster."

"Meowch!" Adrien said, putting a clawed hand over his heart.

Marinette rolled her eyes. "You'll be fine, Kitty. You were born to be Chat Noir. Now are you going to open this door, or should I?"

"A princess should never open her own door," Adrien said, getting out and walking around to open hers.

She smiled and linked her arm through his as they walked up to the bookstore's rear entrance. Alya had warned them that a line was already forming out the front. "Remember, Ladybug and Chat Noir are platonic so no kissing even if they ask us to."

"But, M'lady, Chat would never say no to that."

"Well then Chat better not be upset when Ladybug tells him no," Marinette said.

Adrien leaned down so his breath tickled her ear with his next words and sent pleasant shivers down her spine. "As long as I get kisses at some point today, this cat will leave with all nine lives intact."

Marinette blushed but managed to shoot him a flirtatious smile as they entered the building. "I believe that can be arranged."

Adrien didn't get a chance to reply because an employee appeared to escort them out to the table where Marinette would be doing signings and photos. Adrien slid into place beside her, his hands discretely placed at her low back tightened in what Marinette assumed was alarm as he took in the line that was weaving in and out of the bookshelves of the shop. There were excited shouts as they caught sight of Adrien in his Chat Noir attire and people began to call out to him. Adrien waved good naturedly, his bright smile showing up in stark contrast to his black attire.

Nino had set up tech stuff so they could debut the short film they'd made. It would play on a loop behind them along with some of their older stuff to entertain the people waiting in line. As soon as the superhero duo were seated, the staff started bringing people to them and getting the line moving. Marinette soon found herself standing in front of the desk instead of sitting behind it as she took pictures with everyone. Adrien casually sat behind her on the table and tried to do bunny ears on either her or Alya for all the photos. She eventually threatened to tape his hand to the table to get him to stop.

A couple of fans had overheard that and squealed a little, causing Marinette to blush and glare at Adrien. His grin told her that he was highly entertained and not even slightly embarrassed by the whole ordeal, but he did stop trying to do the bunny ears.

Four hours later, Marinette's cheeks hurt from smiling, and she still hadn't stopped seeing spots from that last camera flash. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Adrien was also showing signs of tiredness between photos.

"Just a few more people, and then we're done, Chaton," she said encouragingly.

"And then I get my good job kiss," he said, giving her a wink.

She tried, and failed, to keep the blush off her cheeks. "That depends of whether or not you've been a good kitten."

The fan waiting at the front of the now short line had whipped out their phone and aimed it at them to catch the interaction. Adrien saw this and gave her a wink with the side of his face that wasn't facing the camera. "But My Lady, how could I be anything but your purrfect kitty?"

Marinette rolled her eyes and leaned in close, Adrien's eyes widened as he watched her with interest. Her lips curled up in a smirk and she booped his nose before pulling back. The crowd reacted instantly with groans and squeals and shouts of, "Kiss him!"

Marinette was pretty sure that they fan that was filming them looked about ready to combust from contained squeals. Most of those left in line had their phones out to video the interaction. Marinette's eyes did land on one who seemed to be irritated – three from the front with bangs and long brown hair. The sides of her bangs were tapered to just past her shoulders and held back from her face with some low ponytails. Something about her felt familiar, though Marinette couldn't quite place it. Marinette figured that she was irritated because of how long they were taking with the other fans. After all, they were going over on time now. Thankfully, the store was being very understanding about the whole thing. When she looked for her again, the fan had disappeared. Marinette hoped they hadn't gotten angry waiting in line for so long.

She gave Adrien a teasing poke on the nose. "Come on, Kitten, I'm sure these lovely folks have places to be and we do to."

They finished up with the fans and then started packing everything up. It was then that his phone went off. The theme song from Sailor Moon began to blare from Adrien's phone. He glared at it and pulled it out while muttering, "I'm going to kill him."

Marinette paused in her deconstruction of the table to look at him, her lips pressed together to hide the laugh that was bubbling up at his embarrassed state.

"What the heck did you do to my ringtone P- Wait, what? Slow down and start over." Adrien listened intently, his face growing more concerned the longer he was silent. "Well, I'm kinda-" he looked down at his cat suit and then over at Marinette, "-on a date." He paused listening to the reply of whoever was on the other end and sighed. "Alright, I'll talk to her."

He turned to Marinette with an apologetic face. "I'm so sorry. Something came up at work and they need me back at the office. Would you like me to get you a ride home or something?"

Alya pipped up. "Our car is full with all this equipment. Why don't you just go with him, Ladybug? I'm sure your kitty would love the company."

Marinette turned her back to Adrien, but not quite far enough that he didn't see when she stuck her tongue out at Alya before turning around to face him again. "I would love to go to your work with you. It sounded important."

She started to walk towards him and then paused, looking down at the table still in her hand. Alya let out a little laugh and took the table away from her. "Just go, girl. Nino and I got this."

She let Alya take the table, then grabbed Adrien's hand and took off. "Thanks! I owe you one."

"Why are we running?" Adrien asked as they reached the car.

"You said it was an emergency," Marinette said. He unlocked the car, and she let go of his hand to get in on her side while he got in on the driver's side.

He put the key in the ignition then paused and looked down at his outfit then at hers. "Do you think we should change first?"

She looked down at her outfit and cursed. "I completely forgot to bring a change of clothes!"

"We could go to my place," he said.

She blinked up at him. "What?"

"I- Uh- It's close to where I work, and I'm sure I've got something that should fit you. Unless you'd rather I took you back to your place."

"No, it's fine. We can just go to your place. You're in a hurry."

He nodded, and they headed off to his place. Adrien was unusually quiet the whole time with a worried furrow in his brow, the Chat Noir persona now gone since the call from work. They reached his apartment building, and Marinette realized that this was the first time she'd ever been to his place. It made her a little nervous, but also seemed like a bit of a letdown, considering the circumstances under which it was happening. They got out of the car, and Adrien checked his phone again. He grimaced before taking Marinette's hand and giving it a squeeze.

"Thanks for being so understanding about this. I promise to take you out to dinner afterwards."

She smiled at him. "You are literally wearing a cat suit right now to help me out with my job. I think we're more than even."

"Right, well, let's hurry inside before everyone finds out that I'm dating a superhero, and I have to fight them off with my baton."

She snorted and let him pull her inside and to an elevator. They entered, and he punched a button for one of the upper floors. He bounced on his heels and fiddled with his keys the entire time as the elevator slowly rose. Before she could decide whether or not to tell him to stop, the elevator dinged and slid open to reveal his floor. Adrien took her hand once more and led her to his door which she stared at with great interest while he fumbled with the keys.

What kind of place did he live in? The building was nice enough, but was his place messy? Was he a pack rat or a clean freak? How did he decorate? A person's place said a lot about them, and she was curious to see what his would say. He opened the door, and she stepped forward to get a peek-

Only to promptly trip and start to pitch forward with a little shriek.

Thankfully, Adrien caught her, wrapping one arm around her waist to keep her from giving an unwanted hello to the floor.

The first thing she was aware of after her blood stopped roaring in her ears was Adrien cursing. "Crap! I'm sorry, Marinette. I meant to move the stupid thing days ago, but kept forgetting."

The "stupid thing" which Adrien was talking about, and the cause of Marinette's near-ground-greetings, was a box- the contents of which were now spilling out onto the floor.

Marinette let out a little laugh. "At least this time, I wasn't tripping over thin air."

Adrien laughed as well and released her, unwinding his arm from around her waist but not quite letting go. "Well, this cat is quick on his feet and will always be here to catch you."

She laughed and pulled him the rest of the way inside his apartment. "You incorrigible flirt."

"But I'm your incorrigible flirt."

She pulled him in for a quick peck and was about to go back for a second when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye and turned to look. It completely distracted her from properly taking in the apartment. It was monochromatic in the carpet and kitchen and couch. The kitchen was in mild disarray with dirty dishes on the table and in the sink while the gaming systems and shelves of comics and video games were placed neat and tidy with an almost obsessive care. The color for the place came from the pictures that covered the walls. One in particular stood out to her. "Um, Kitten, is that what I think it is?"

Adrien turned to see what she was staring at and froze. "That depends. What do you think it is?"

"A giant poster of Ladybug and Chat Noir hanging over your couch," she deadpanned.

He coughed, and a blush started to flood his cheeks. "To be fair, there are also posters of Full Metal Alchemist, and Batman, and Captain America, and lots of other superheroes and stuff." She continued to stare at him as his face got redder and redder. Finally, he looked away. "In my defense, I had it hanging up there long before we were dating."

"But we're dating now, and it's still up there."

"You know, I'm going to go and find those clothes I promised you, because I don't think I have a good answer here, and we need to hurry." He took off in what she assumed was the direction of his room, leaving her behind to shake her head at him.

She glanced over at the picture and groaned. That was one of the limited edition posters from when they'd first started Ladybug comics. They'd sold it at a charity auction last year, despite Marinette complaining to Alya that they should just burn it to hide how terrible her art was in the beginning. Alya had laughed and said that they only one who ever thought Marinette's drawing was terrible was Marinette herself.

Still grumbling to herself, she knelt down to pick up the mess she made when she knocked over the box. It looked like a bunch of childhood keepsakes. Books and toys and old clothes spilled out. She held up a pair of skinny jeans and looked at them contemplatively. You know, these just might…

She rummaged through the box to see what else she could find. Eventually she found a black shirt with three stripes across the chest and a white short-sleeved jacket that would also work for her purposes. It was about then that Adrien finally retuned, dressed in black slacks and a blue button-up shirt and carrying what looked like basketball shorts and a t-shirt in his hands. "I found some clothes that should fit you, though they might be a little baggy- Oh, where did you find those?" he asked, looking at what she'd found.

Marinette gestured to the box. "In there."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I think those are from when I was about fifteen or so. I told my dad to just donate all those old clothes. He was cleaning out his attic recently and brought me some of my old stuff."

"In this case, I think this works out to our advantage, I think these will fit me better than those anyway."

He nodded and gestured the way he'd just come from. "The bathroom is on the left."

"Thanks!" she said and headed off to change.

His bathroom was clean, but not neat freak clean, with a half-used, crumpled tube of toothpaste still sitting on the counter and one of his shampoo bottles had fallen to the floor of his open shower. She didn't take too long to explore, though, and changed quickly before heading back out, wincing a little as she pulled the mask off. The jeans felt a little tight, but overall everything felt like a decent fit. It was a bit of a hit to her ego, knowing that she fit into her boyfriend's childhood clothes. Nothing quite like wearing literal kids' clothes to make you feel less like an adult.

Then again, nothing quite like the double take Adrien gave when she came back in make her feel like she was wearing model worthy clothes. There was a certain thrill that came from wearing her boyfriend's clothes, especially when it made him look at her like that.

"What do you think?" she asked, giving a slow spin so he could get a full view of the outfit. When she turned back around he was blushing a little.

"I know I didn't fill that out half as well when I wore is as you do now."

He grinned and she blushed, then his phone went off to ruin the moment. Adrien sighed as he reached for it. "I'm coming. I'm coming." He sent off a text then gave her a regretful smile. "Sorry I couldn't do a proper house tour. Ready to go?"

She nodded and they took off once more.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Who could the person Adrien was talking to on the phone possibly be? Who's name do we know that starts with a "P"? Whoever this mysterious stranger may be, I'm sure we'll meet him in the next chapter.**

 **Reviews are always appreciated! ^_^**


	13. Chapter 13

**Yay! We finally get to meet the mysterious "P" person! Here's some silliness because after this I have some angst for you.**

 **Real quick there were some guests who commented on the last chapter:**

 **Guest- Yeah, I probably would have combusted as well, and I'm glad you liked Marinette's outfit :)**

 **Demi clayton- I'm writing as much as I can. Thank you for the encouragement.**

 **Now without further adue- on to the story! (I do not own Miraculous Ladybug)**

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The building they pulled up to was sleek and dark and modern, all tinted windows and steel. Adrien grabbed Marinette's hand and led her inside.

"Good afternoon, M. Agreste," said his receptionist, a bright, chipper woman in pink with short blond hair."

"Afternoon, Rose. This is with Marinette – she'll be in my office while I take care of the thing."

"Yes, Paul is quite upset."

Adrien sighed, "I better go see what I can do before he starts chucking cheeses at people. Marinette, I'll take you to my office first."

Marinette nodded, feeling shy as she looked around at the fancy building. _Adrien owned this_?

Rose eyed her with interest. "Can I get you anything, Ms. Marinette?"

"Umm, no. Thank you," Marinette said shyly.

Adrien led her over to an elevator and pulled out his wallet to swipe against a key pad that opened the big metal doors. They both stepped in, and the doors slid shut with a 'ding' behind them.

"This place is impressive."

Adrien glanced around distractedly. "Thanks. When the business started growing, my friend that went into it with me suggested this place."

"Well, he picked a good one."

Adrien smirked. "Don't tell him that. His ego is big enough as it is."

"Will I get to meet him?"

"Probably, but I need to take care of something first."

"What exactly happened?"

"Somebody tried to hack our system, and we're trying to figure out exactly what happened and if they got anything."

Marinette's eyes widened in alarm. "That sounds like a big deal."

Adrien grimaced. "It might be. We need to figure out exactly what happened first."

The door dinged and slid open once more. Adrien lead her down a hallway and to a pair of big oak doors. One of the doors bore a plaque that said, "The Big Cheese".

Marinette looked over at Adrien. "What's that?"

Adrien grunted and pulled the plaque out of its holder. "My friend thinks he's funny. Anyway, wait here. Feel free to help yourself to anything in the fridge if you get hungry or thirsty. Once everything settles down, I can introduce you to everyone or we can go get dinner. Whatever you want."

Marinette eyed the mini fridge and the big comfy looking desk chair. "I think I'll be good. Just let me know when you're done, and I'll let you know what I feel like."

He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "You're the best."

He left, letting the large door swing shut behind him. Marinette set to exploring the space. The initial feel of the place was professional and just a little intimidating with bookshelves full of texts to do with computers and coding lining the walls. Honestly, Marinette hadn't even known that it was possible to write so many different books on the subject. Everything was sleek and modern and immaculately clean. It also felt cold and absent of Adrien's warm personality that she'd come to know and love.

When she came around to the other side of the desk, though, she saw hints of the Adrien she knew. Discreetly hidden under the desk were two short bookshelves full of manga. The fridge wasn't much better. The top half was full of energy drinks and protein bars while the bottom half was full of assorted cheeses, mostly camembert. She hadn't known Adrien loved cheese so much.

She sat down at the desk to see if she could get on his computer when the doors burst open. A tall, scrawny man came marching in, his black hair sticking out like he'd been running his hands through it.

"Just kiss your girlfriend and get down here. When I said emergency, I meant _emergency._ You're our best network security engineer and-" He paused when he noticed that Marinette was all alone in the room. "Oh, where's Adrien?"

Marinette blinked for a moment, letting her heartrate settle before answering. "He already went to go take care of the problem and told me to wait here."

He relaxed a little and smiled at her sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I was hoping for a better introduction. You're Marinette, right?"

"Yes. How did you know that?"

The man rolled his eyes and walked over to the mini fridge, Marinette watched with mild horror as he pulled out a thing of camembert and unwrapping it before shoving the whole thing in his mouth. Thankfully he swallowed before he responded. "One- you're on the internet as Adrien's girlfriend. There are pictures and Facebook posts and everything. Two- I'm his best friend and he talks about you. All. The. Time."

Marinette blushed. "Oh, well, um, that's nice," She paused and read the name written in clean cursive on his shirt just below the Agreste Inc. logo. "Paul?"

"Plagg."

That was not what was on his shirt. "Plagg?"

"Plagg," the man confirmed.

"That's, um, an interesting name."

"An old childhood nickname, and my gamer handle," he said. "It's what my friends call me and since Adrien is my best friend and you're dating Adrien, I hope that we can be friends too."

"Oh, well thank you," Marinette said, now touched by the gesture of him sharing his strange nickname with her.

Paul nodded. "Oh, I should probably also let you know that all that cheese in the fridge is mine and not to be eaten by anyone but me under pain of death."

Marinette wasn't sure what to make of this loud man. His eyes bespoke mischief, and she was pretty sure she was being tested. Keeping eye contact with him, she went over to the fridge and reached in to grab a piece cheese. Slowly, deliberately she unwrapped it. Then, still maintaining eye contact she took a bite. When she swallowed, she flashed him a wide grin. "Bring it."

Plagg barked out a laugh and gave her a hard pat on the shoulder. "We'll get along just fine.

He took her hand and shook it, grinning. "Hey, you're probably bored up here. Did you want to come with me to surprise your boyfriend?"

Marinette glanced around the office. She could just sit here and read his manga while she waited for Adrien, but Plagg's offer was also tempting. "Are you sure that I won't be in the way?"

Plagg snorted. "I don't care. I just think it would be funny to see the look on Adrien's face when you randomly show up."

"Isn't Adrien your boss? Is it wise to mess with him?"

"Eh. He's really only my boss on paper and that's just because I didn't want to be in charge. I'm more of a behind the scenes kinda guy and his face looks prettier in the magazines. But we started this together and I've known him forever. There's no way he'd fire me over something like this if that's what you're worried about."

 _This man courts chaos,_ Marinette thought. "Maybe I should stay here. . ."

Plagg waved a hand through the air, as if to waft away her concerns. "I'm teasing. Well, not really, but Adrien would be delighted if you showed up. He's worried that you'll think his job is super boring or something. The guy's not always as confident as he acts."

Marinette smiled, that sounded like the Adrien that she knew. "All right, then. Lead the way."

A short trip later, and they arrived at a room full of computers. Some people sat at their desks, typing away, but a crowd had gathered around one particular computer. The monitor was in front of them, blocking whoever it was at the keyboard typing furiously. Whoever it was had the attention of most of the room.

"Where are we at?" Plagg asked as he entered the room.

One of the people crowded around the monitor glanced up. "Crisis averted. They didn't get Black Cat. He's trying to see if he can trace it back to the source."

"What exactly happened?" Marinette whispered to Plagg.

"Somebody tried to hack us."

She gasped. "What were they after?"

"The new security system we have scheduled to come out soon: Black Cat."

Marinette felt the urge to roll her eyes. "He named it 'Black Cat'?"

Plagg chuckled. "Only because he was outvoted on naming it Ladybug. Just like he has been every time previously that he's suggested it." He looked over at her to gage her reaction. "You do realize that you're dating an uber-nerd, right?"

She giggled knowingly. "We met at Comic Con."

"Well, then it sounds like he finally started looking in the right places."

There was some cursing, followed by a collective groan of the group surrounding the monitor and the two hurried over to the group. "What happened?" Plagg asked.

Adrien looked up from his place at the monitor. "I lost them."

Plagg put a hand on his shoulder. "At least the merchandise is safe."

Adrien gave him a grunt of affirmation, barely glancing at him before doing a rapid double take to stare at the girl standing behind him. "Marinette! When did you get here?"

"Same time you did. We came in the same car, remember?"

Plagg snorted and shot her a delighted grin. The rest of the crowd was shooting her curious glances. Marinette thought she saw some money change hands discreetly. Had they been betting about her? What on earth about? She did her best to not shy away from their looks and tried to focus on Adrien.

"I meant, when did you get _here_ -here?" Adrien amended, gesturing to the room.

"Plagg found me when he was looking for you and brought me down here." A sudden bit of doubt hit her. "Was that okay? I can leave if I'm in the way."

He reached out to grab her hand and keep her from going. "No, no. It's fine. I'm just about finished up here anyway and then we can leave. Dinner still sound good?"

"Dinner sounds great," Marinette said, then stepped back so he could finish up and talk to his employees.

Plagg left her then as well to discuss the situation with Adrien. She held back and just watched this new side of Adrien. At Comic Con, she'd seen his confident, nerdy side. When they'd started dating she'd seen him shy and insecure. Now here was yet another side of him as she watched him calmly taking control of the situation with a responsible, efficient attitude. With each new piece of him she learned about, she found herself falling more for him. Each time she did, she was convinced that this was it and she had reached the pinnacle of affection only for him to do something sweet and endearing and her love for him just soared to new heights.

He caught her eye as he was talking to someone and flashed her a smile, letting her know that he knew she was still there and he was trying to finish up. She smiled back, to let him know that all was well and she was in no hurry. They'd started being able to do that, to tell what the other was thinking through glances and gestures. Marinette hadn't ever dated anyone before that had gotten and understood her so well to be able to do that. She found she liked it a lot.

They had a lovely dinner date and when it was done he dropped her back off at her house. She was looking forward to winding down with a cup of chamomile while she worked on some panels for the next book. She'd just sat down at her drawing table with her cup or tea and inspiration jammies when there was a knock at the door.

Frowning she got up and went over to glance through the peephole. A woman stood there glancing between her phone and the door impatiently. As Marinette watched, the woman raised her perfectly manicured hand to knock once more. She wore a bright orange blazer that went well with her olive-toned skin, and after she knocked she brought the same hand to impatiently toss back her long, brown hair.

It had to be a reporter. Marinette thought. She'd had several more trying to contact her since she and Adrien had officially started dating. She groaned mentally and debated on just pretending to not be home and maybe the woman would go away. Even as she had the thought though, she saw the woman scowl and knock on the door for a third time.

This woman was persistent and probably wasn't leaving until she saw her. With a sigh, Marinette undid the locks and slipped the door open a crack. "Hello?"

The woman flashed her an over-bright smile. "Hi, Marinette Dupain-Cheng? Do you mind if I come in for a little chat?"

Marinette really didn't feel like dealing with a reporter this late at night. "I'm sorry, but I don't make a habit of letting strangers into my house."

The brunette's grin widened, and it wasn't at all kind. "Oh, I don't think you will want this conversation overheard. . . Ladybug."

* * *

 **DUN DUN DUN!**

 **Reviews always appreciated.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Alright, so part of this chapter refers to events that happened in Miraculous Comic Con. It's not a huge detraction for the story or anything, but if any of you haven't read it, you might want to go and do that. It's the prequel that I wrote to this story.**

 **Only one guest comment this time and to you who did so- Yes you are correct! Lila is here.**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Marinette froze, staring wide-eyed at the woman in front of her.

"That's what I thought," she said, a smirk pulling at her lip. She pushed the door open the rest of the way and lett herself in.

"Wait," Marinette said, her brain rebooting. "You can't just come into my house."

The woman glanced around at the small space and scoffed, "I would hardly call this a house."

 _Now hold the phone_ , she thought. "Okay, who are you, and what the hell are you doing in my house?" Marinette demanded.

The woman turned to shut the front door before leaning on it the with attitude of one who believed she owned the world. "Call me Lila, and I think you and I need to have a little talk, Ladybug."

Marinette stiffened at the name but managed to keep her wits about herself this time. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you do," Lila said, then flipped her phone around to show a picture of Marinette and Adrien dressed as Ladybug and Chat Noir from earlier that day. She swiped across the phone, and the next picture was of the two of them entering his apartment building dressed in the same attire. A final swipe was of the two of them leaving his building, now dressed in normal clothes.

"I- You- You followed us?!"

Lila rolled her eyes. "Keep it down. Wouldn't want to disturb the neighbors."

Marinette could think of no retort for the audacious woman before her. Instead she made a desperate grab for the phone, which Lila held out of reach as she laughed.

"Easy there. I don't think you can afford to replace this. It cost more than this place."

Marinette ground her teeth in frustration as she fought to get her anger under control. "I highly doubt that you're a reporter, so what do you want?"

Lila's eyes lit up. "Oh, so you do have half a brain. Here's the deal – you don't want people knowing that you spend your free time running around as a superhero like some lame wannabe. From the depths of my bleeding heart, I think I could be convinced to keep your secret, but I'm going to need you to do something for me in exchange."

"What do you want?" Marinette repeated, hating this conversation by the second.

"Break up with Adrien."

Of all the blackmail, that wasn't the one she'd expected. "What?"

"Break up with Adrien Agreste. He's too good for you and way out of your league."

"I don't think you're the one that gets to decide that."

Lila smirked and held up her phone to reveal the picture of them leaving his apartment once more. "Actually, I do. Unless you want your secret out, that is?"

Marinette felt like she'd received a punch to the gut. This wasn't happening. This had to be a nightmare.

Lila smirked as she watched the panic take over Marinette and leaned in close. "I can see that this will take a while for your brain to process, so I'll give you two days to end things with Adrien before everything goes public." She made her way back over to the door but paused just before she touched the handle. "Oh, and a word of advice- I wouldn't tell anyone about our conversation tonight, because if I find out that you did, you're going to find that there are worse things that can happen to you than those pictures getting out."

With that she left, the door shutting behind her with a sharp click. Marinette slumped to the floor where she lay in shock, slowly processing the whole event. She curled up in a ball and pressed her eyes into her knees, trying to keep her tears from leaking out. When she finally raised her head, she knew what she had to do. It just wasn't fair darnit!

She pulled out her phone and texted Adrien. **We need to talk**.

Less that a minute after she'd sent it her phone started to ring, and her heart clenched at the name on her screen. Hands shaking, she answered the phone. "Hello?" she said.

Hearing his voice come through the speaker made her want to start crying all over again. "Hey. I'm probably freaking out over nothing, but society has trained me that any time a girl tells you that she needs to talk it means something serious. What's up, princess?"

"Can we do this in person? I don't want to say this over the phone."

"I can be right over. Are you alright?" He must have picked up on the sadness in her tone, or perhaps it was just her words themselves, but all jovialness was gone from his voice then.

Gosh darnit, she wasn't going to cry! But she still couldn't lie to him or keep her words from getting watery when she spoke next. "No, but I don't want to talk about it over the phone." Afraid he'd hear her crying, she hung up, just before a sob broke loose. She grit her teeth and tried to reign in her ragged breathing. Now was not the time to lose control. She could do that later. For now she needed to take care of things.

Feeling paranoid, she shut off her phone, leaving it behind on her couch. She then went to wait for Adrien out in the parking lot, not bothering to change out of her pajamas.

It didn't take long for him to come pulling in. She stepped into the lamplight, and the car pulled to a stop right in front of her. Moving mechanically, she opened the door and slid into the passenger seat. He was also dressed in pajamas, though she noted that he'd at least had the foresight to throw a jacket on over his clothes on this chilly night. Seeing her disheveled state, it should have come as no surprise when the first thing out of his mouth was. "Are you all right?"

She shook her head. Seeing his face so full of concern made her want to cry again.

"Here. You look cold; take this." He slipped out of his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She clutched at it like a lifeline, feeling even more miserable than before. "Mari, what's wrong?"

"Please just drive," was all she could manage to choke out.

His brow scrunched up in confusion. "Where?"

She leaned across the car so she could cling to his arm and burry her face against his bicep, wanting to savor every second she could still be with him. "I don't care." She saw his phone sitting in the cup holder. She grabbed it and turned it off. He let her, but raised his eyebrow.

"What happened?"

"Someone came to see me tonight, and now I'm feeling a little paranoid. Please drive, I need to see if someone follows us."

His hand on the tightened, knuckles turning white. "Did someone threaten you?"

"Drive first. I'll explain when I'm sure we're alone."

He nodded and pulled the car away from the curb. They drove in complete silence aside from the occasional sniffle coming from Marinette. She kept a careful eye on all the mirrors, even occasionally turning around to glance out the back. It was late though, and not too many people were out on the road so it became apparent fairly quickly that they weren't being followed. Perhaps Lila hadn't expected her to act tonight. He eventually pulled into an empty gas station and turned off the car.

"Now will you tell me what's going on?" Adrien asked, exasperation and worry coloring his tone.

Marinette nodded and opened her mouth to do so, but no words came out. Instead she began to sob.

"Marinette!" Adrien cried, reaching over to pull his girlfriend into his lap. She went willingly, letting the jacket fall into the passenger seat and wrapping her arms around his neck to cry into his chest. He held her close and gently stroked her hair. "Shhhhh. Shhhh. It's alright. Just tell me what's wrong. Let me fix it."

With her face still burried in the crook of his neck, she shook her head. "You can't."

"Just tell me what happened, and let me try," he pleaded.

"S-Someone came to my house."

"And did what?" he prompted.

She told him. Haltingly, and still crying, but eventually she managed to get the whole story out from the door knock to the door shutting. His grip on her slowly tightened until it felt like he was trying to fuse the two of them together.

"You said her name was Lila?"

"Yeah."

"Italian? Long brown hair, with bangs?"

"Yeah? Do you know her?"

She felt his jaw clench from where it rested atop her head. "She's interning with the marketing department right now."

"Adrien, whatever you're thinking right now- don't do it."

"I'm thinking I should fire her ass and have her brought up on charges of blackmail."

"Adrien, no!"

"Why not?" He pulled her away just enough for their eyes to meet, and even in the dark she could see the fury that was seething in them.

"Because she'll tell everyone that I'm Ladybug, and I'm not ready for that. Ladybug is who I become when I can't be Marinette and visa versa. I'm not ready for everyone to know that they're the same person. I need those two worlds separate. I'm still trying to get used to the idea that people know who I am as Marinette. The reports and paparazzi, these were things I didn't really deal with as Ladybug. I went to events and then I disappeared. I've spent years building my separate lives and I'm just not ready for everyone to know yet. So, you can't do anything, because if she knows I told you, she'll spill my secret. Please, for me."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Nothing. You're going to take me home, and we'll go our separate ways. You'll stop coming by my work and my home, you won't come to any events with Ladybug, and you'll tell anyone who asks that we broke up."

"No!" He pulled her back in and buried his face in her hair. She felt it start to grow damp and realized that now he was crying too. "If you're just going to give in to her threats, why are you even bothering to tell me all this?"

"Because you needed to be warned. She's after something."

He snorted bitterly. "Yeah, money."

"Possibly, but my gut tells me that there's more to the story than just that. She's clever and sneaky. If she just wanted money, there are other rich men out there who are single that she could have had a much easier time with. I don't know what she wants, but I feel like it's more than just money."

She could hear the frown in his voice. "Wait. What?"

Marinette tightened her hold on his neck. "I'm saying that you're going to tell everyone that we broke up, but we're not actually going to break up. We're just going to have to stop seeing each other until we figure out what it is that she's after."

He pulled her towards him once more, only instead of cuddling her again, he brought her face to his and kissed her fiercely. She returned it, equally passionate. After having been hollowed out by Lila and her threats Adrien now filled her once more, and she already ached at the thought of knowing that they would have to be apart. They clung to each other desperately, and when they pulled apart for air Adrien said three words that filled her with fire and made tears come again.

"I love you."

Her mouth crashed on his once more, trying to swallow his words and convey just how much they meant to her. When they separated for air once more and Adrien started trailing kisses down her neck, Marinette had just enough clarity of mind to whisper back, "I love you too."

This was not the situation she was imagining for when they would first confess to each other. Her hands trembled from how hard she clung to him. She thought he might be shaking too, though it was impossible to tell with how his hands roved and grabbed everywhere, trying to memorize her form. Their kisses rapidly grew erratic and desperate, like they were trying to fill the future void of being apart with as many kisses now as possible. Marinette wanted to weep at the irony of them finally confessing to each other just to part ways.

 _Not forever,_ she thought fiercely, tilting her head to try and deepen the kiss further. _I will fix this, and then I won't let a single day go by where I don't tell you just how much I love you_ , she vowed to herself.

Adrien seemed to be vowing to try and take every piece of her that he could as she felt his kisses devour her whole soul. She gave him her everything, silently begging with her lips for some of him in return.

When their need to touch and know and comfort slowed its frantic pace, they simply sat wrapped up in each other with Adrien nuzzling into Marinette's neck and her burying her face in his hair to try and commit the scent of him to perfect memory.

"So, what exactly is your plan?" Adrien asked into her neck.

"We pretend we broke up. I start researching Lila and try to find out what she's after. Once I know, I'll let you know. For now, we go our separate ways."

"I'll call you in the morning."

Marinette tightened her grip on him and felt tears prick at her eyes once more. Gosh darnit, she thought she was out of those! "No, Adrien, you can't call me or text me or contact me in any way. She followed us today. I suspect she's been following us for a while. I doubt she'll stop now. If she sees us together she'll spill my secret, and I already told you that I'm not ready for that. I just- I can't Adrien. The thought of everyone knowing is giving me literal panic attacks. You remember how badly I freaked out when it was just you discovering my secret."

He smiled at the memory. "You ran away screaming."

Marinette laughed lightly. "If Alya hadn't intervened, I doubt I would have left my hotel room for the rest of the convention."

"But everything you were afraid of happening didn't happen. I didn't hate you. In fact, I fell in love with you. Knowing Marinette hasn't ruined my image of Ladybug. You both just became one incredible woman," Adrien argued.

"But Lila wouldn't have found out my secret if we hadn't been dating," she whispered.

"What are you saying?" Adrien asked, heartbreak clear in his voice.

She lifted his head and kissed him gently. "I'm _not_ saying that I regret dating you. Alya calls you 'sunshine' because she thinks you're a bit naïve; I think 'sunshine' is a good nickname for you because you have been the light of my life since the moment you stepped into it."

"So then why are you making me step out?" His eyes were large and pleading, begging her to change her mind.

"I understand on some level that my fears are irrational, believe me. Alya has been trying to convince me of that since we first dreamed up Ladybug. But that doesn't make my fears any less valid in my mind. They are very real, and the thought of everyone knowing _terrifies_ me. At the same time, the thought of losing you forever makes me feel physically ill. I'm trying to find some kind of compromise in an unwinnable situation and make the best of it. Please, try to understand."

"Mari," he whispered, burying his face in the crook of her neck once more. "I can't argue with that."

She gently carded her fingers through his hair in the way she knew he liked. "Then you're just going to have to trust me and follow my plan."

He muttered something noncommittal against her collar bone, and they fell into silent cuddling again. Eventually though, it was Marinette who was the responsible one and pointed out the lateness of the hour- or earliness, depending on the perspective.

"You have to get up to get ready for work in a few hours," she urged when he wouldn't let her budge from her place in his lap, which subsequently meant that he also couldn't drive.

"That's not what's important right now," he said, a hint of petulance in his tone.

"You have an entire company to run. I have my own business to be getting to as well," she said, torn between responsibility and the ever-growing urge to simply stay in his lap forever. Screw Lila and everyone else. But the demons in her mind whispered what would happen if everyone knew and kept her from giving in.

He didn't reply verbally, but his arms tightened their hold on her.

"Adrien, please. For me? If our plan is going to work we're going to have get out of this car eventually."

" _Your_ plan. I still stand by my plan of fire and arrest as an appropriate course of action," he said, yet his grip around her waist was slackening ever so slightly.

Running a soothing hand through his hair as he continued to press his face into the crook of her neck, she twisted her head so she could talk to his ear instead of a mouthful of hair, "If I can't figure it out, I will let you know and we'll switch to your plan, but it's not going to benefit anyone to act rashly and neither of us are going to be very rational tomorrow if we don't get some sleep."

He groaned but let her slip out of his lap and back into the passenger seat. "Fine, but only because my princess needs her beauty sleep."

She smiled at that and leaned over to nestle against his arm like she had when she'd first gotten into the car. Though this time she wasn't on the verge of tears. She had no tears left to cry and it had moved past the time of crying. Now it was time to act. There was a lot to do, but Marinette was a woman on a mission and heaven help whoever got in her way.

It took a while to get back to her apartment. Adrien had gotten turned around when he'd taken all the twists and turns to ensure that they weren't followed, but he didn't bother turning his phone back on to try and find his way. Both delayed her departure as long as possible, but when he finally pulled into her parking lot, she knew they couldn't stall any longer.

"Thank you," she said quietly, reaching for the door handle. She paused and glanced behind her then picked up Adrien's jacket and turned back to him. "I'm taking this. I'll need a lucky charm to defeat this akuma bitch. You can have it back when I win."

He smiled for the first time since he'd arrived that evening. "Well then, my lady, I await your miraculous cure where you make this all better. Remember that your loyal cat is always by your side."

"And I you, Kitty," she murmured before she leaned over to kiss him once more. When their lips broke contact, she forced herself out of the car and ran inside before her willpower could fail her. Despite what she had told Adrien to get him to take her home, Marinette did not go to bed that night. Instead she spent the evening at her computer researching everything she could about a woman named Lila.

* * *

 **Just a PSA- if someone is threatening you, never keep it a secret. TELL SOMEONE! As someone who has been threatened both personally and my family, I can guarantee you that silence is how bullies rule. Never be alone with them and record any and all interactions with them. Okay, stepping down from my soap box.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Comments are always appreciated.**


	15. Chapter 15

**In which Adrien is not okay. . . and neither is Marinette.**

 **CeceTheFandomQeen- Thanks so much.** **You're absolutely right that telling people will help lighten the load, though after telling Adrien, Marinette becomes a will less rational. . . well, you'll see.**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Adrien was not having a good day. Everyone was on edge after the hack yesterday, each with their own theories about who did it. He had all departments coming to him with various security concerns from paychecks to whether or not the hackers had left any trojans to mess with them. He had received at least five phone calls from Alya, all of which he'd ignored because he knew that she wanted one of two things – either she was calling him to find out why Marinette had changed her Facebook status to single, or she was calling to give him a dressing down about what she surely thought was his fault over a failed relationship. Whichever it was, he did not have the emotional capacity to deal with it.

He really didn't have the emotional capacity to deal with the woman in front of him right now either.

Lila stood before him with a clipboard held against her chest and pushing up on her cleavage which was already straining in the far-too-tight blouse. "-and the marketing department wanted to give you their projections on how this hack might affect sales of our new product."

"Yes. Fine. Thanks." _Please leave,_ he added silently.

But she didn't. Instead, she frowned and leaned forward. Adrien focused on her forehead, keeping his sight well away from the tiny blouse with the straining button. "Mr. Agreste, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. If that's all, you can go now. Leave the papers, and I'll go over them when I have time."

She bit her lip and stepped in closer, making him need to crane his head up to keep his eyes on her forehead. "Please, I've been told that I'm a very good listener, and you really do seem troubled." She paused, and Adrien found he had to give her credit for her acting skills. He also felt he should get some points as well for not having kicked her out already. "Could you possibly be having girl trouble?"

"What would make you ask that?" he asked sharply, then internally berated himself. He wasn't supposed to do anything that might make her suspect that Marinette had told him anything.

She gave a world-wearied chuckle. "A woman just has an intuition for these kinds of things. Why don't you tell me what happened. Maybe I can give you some advice?"

He felt his temper snap and was just about to tell her where she could stick her advice when, savior of saviors, Plagg burst in looking mad enough to ignite something. "You mind telling me who thought this little joke was funny?" he demanded, holding out his phone.

Lila jumped back from where she had been leaning over his desk, letting out a squeak of surprise.

"What joke, Plagg?" Adrien asked tiredly, pretty sure he knew what was coming.

Plagg didn't answer at first. He glanced between Adrien and Lila and then back again. "What is she doing here?"

"Leaving. You can go, Ms. Rossi," Adrien said, getting the hint.

She hurried towards the door. "Oh, Ms. Rossi?" Adrien called.

She turned back to him. "Yes?"

"The report," Adrien said, gesturing to the clipboard still in her hands. _Probably trying to take it with her so she has an excuse to come back again after Plagg leaves_ , he thought to himself.

"Oh, right. Silly me. Here you go, sir." She walked over and handed the clipboard over but held on when he took it. "Remember, I'm here if you need to talk." She flashed him one last brilliant smile and then took her leave, closing the door behind.

Plagg turned back to Adrien. "What was that?" he asked sharply.

"Someone who already saw what you came to talk to me about and thought they'd make a bid for what they think is an open market," Adrien said tiredly, bringing his hands up to rub his face.

Plagg came closer and held out his phone so Adrien could see the screen. There was a picture of Marinette and Adrien from a dinner date they'd had a while ago and the title: '30 under 30's Black Cat's Bad Luck Strikes Again? Agreste and Dupain-Chang appear to be taking a break, according to our sources. The couple-' The rest of the article was cut off by the small screen. "You mind telling me why I'm finding out about this from some gossip rag being forwarded to me instead of from you?"

"Because I don't want to talk about it, Plagg," Adrien said, hands still over his face.

"What the heck happened? You both seemed solid when I saw you yesterday."

"A lot happened, all right? And I don't want to talk about it."

"Is this because I threatened her over the cheese, because I can apologize to her if you want. You know how my humor is. I didn't actually mean it."

"That's not- You threatened her?" He brought his hands away from his face to give Plagg a raised eyebrow.

Plagg, at least, had the decency to look abashed about it. "Yeah, I told her not to touch my cheese in your fridge."

"And what did she do?"

"Walked over to the fridge, grabbed some of my good parmesan, and ate it right in front of me."

Adrien snorted and felt like he might start crying. "Yeah, that sounds like Marinette."

"I was thrilled. I thought I'd finally met someone else who got my humor like you did, but if she was offended, I can apologize to her."

For all his rough edges and sarcasm, Plagg really was the nicest guy he knew. He had a soft heart, just blanketed behind sharp barbs of wit and criticism. "She wasn't upset at you, Plagg. She thought you were funny. She said as much on our date."

"Then what happened?"

Coffee. He needed coffee and cookies and to maybe bang his head against his desk. Repeatedly. Maybe then he wouldn't feel like crying. "I. Don't. Want. To. Talk. About. It," he said, slowly and carefully.

Plagg eyed him for a full minute before finally nodding at whatever he saw. "Fine. Did you want to come over and crash at my place tonight? Reporters are probably already waiting at yours. I promise I won't ask any question."

Adrien sagged in relief. He hadn't even thought about how he was going to avoid all of the reporters. "That actually sounds nice. Thanks a lot, Plagg."

He snorted. "Don't thank me yet. You've never slept on my couch before."

Typical of Plagg to leave a snarky comment and disappear, but while nothing had been solved, Adrien found he was feeling better after Plagg left. All the way up until he got a call from his secretary.

"Ms. Rossi is back. She says there's something in the paperwork she gave you that she needs to explain personally."

"Shoot me," he muttered under his breath.

"Sir?"

"I said, please tell her that I'm going out to lunch so she'll have to wait until I get back," he said, then hung up the phone.

He groaned and brought his hands to his face once more. He really hoped Marinette was doing better than he was, because today was shaping up to be the worst day of his life.

* * *

Marinette was not okay.

She was not okay the first night when she hadn't gone to sleep so she could spend as much time as possible researching Lila. She was not okay when she arrived at work the next day, zero sleep and four cups of coffee later. Alya had started texting her sometime in the morning, presumably after she'd woken up and seen Marinette's Facebook relationship status had changed back to single. When she'd ignored the texts, her nosy friend started calling. Alya had switched methods and called everyone else she knew to try and find out what was wrong. Going down the list from her parents to Manon. No one could give Alya an answer because obviously none of them knew, but now everyone was concerned about her.

She'd spent most of the first day muttering out, "I'm fine," and, "I don't want to talk about it," on repeat until she'd finally burst into tears and begged them to leave her alone. They did. Sort of. Alya started trying to plan a Girl's Day Out for the two of them "just because." Tikki kept showing up with cookies and tea saying that it'd been a while since they'd had sister time. Nino kept giving her mix tapes saying that he wanted her opinion on them, all of it sounding suspiciously like break-up music. Manon, bless her, kept sending her random memes with no context. Oddly enough, those seemed to be what cheered her up the most.

After the first day, she really didn't go to work other than to grab a commission and take it home with her to work on whenever she needed to take a break from the computer. The days honestly weren't too bad. She researched, she sewed, she drank coffee, sometimes Tikki showed up and made her eat, and sometimes she worked on a shrine that she was building to Adrien. It was really more a collection of her memories with him slowly being piled up on her bookshelf. It included things like the Louis Vuitton shoes he'd bought her, and her remaining shoe from their first date. A picture of the two of them form Comic Con, and the last movie they'd watched together. All perfectly normal stuff that a perfectly normal person would do.

In her opinion, people had done weirder things when they'd gone three days without sleeping. Not that she knew that many (or any), but she did a quick google search, and she had nothing to worry about until she started hallucinating and blacking out. So, she was fine, thank you very much. _Stop asking, Tikki!_

Nights though, nights were what was really eating at her. Despite their many protests and excuses, Tikki, and whoever else "just happened to drop by," were unceremoniously kicked out by seven o'clock, because any time after that She might show up. She'd come barging in to taunt Marinette saying that Adrien had done this or that today and had definitely eyed her derriere in her pencil skirt that day. Essentially, coming to tell Marinette that Adrien had moved on and make sure Marinette remembered their deal and didn't try to contact him. Then, like the whirlwind that killed the wicked witch of the west, she'd be gone just as suddenly as she arrived, leaving Marinette with enough hate to keep her awake another night.

Speaking of, Marinette glanced over at the clock. It was nearing eight, and there still hadn't been a knock at the door. _Maybe she isn't coming tonight_ , Marinette thought hopefully.

Her hopes were quickly dashed with three sharp raps at the door. With a resigned sigh, she got up and opened it.

There stood Lila, the immaculate perfection to her disheveled mess. "Took you long enough," Lila said as she let herself in.

"To what do I owe the pleasure this time?" Marinette asked dryly, then found herself slipping into giggles. For some reason the word 'pleasure' was just immensely funny right now.

Lila gave her an unimpressed look. "I see you're taking your newly single life well."

"I see you're taking your perpetually single life well too," Marinette said before she could stop herself.

Lila arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow at her. "Careful there, or my feelings might be too hurt to remember what I'm not supposed to say next time I pass a reporter. I'm sure your fans would love to find out that Ladybug is an old hag holed up in her apartment."

"You're older than me." Whoops, she wasn't supposed to know that. She doubted Lila would be pleased if she found out that Marinette was researching her.

"Oh please, you're just fishing. I don't have time for your antics right now."

She had to physically bite her tongue to stop herself from sassing back. _Bad Marinette_ , one voice said. _This is what happens when you don't sleep for three days_ , another voice said. That one sounded a lot like Tikki. _Shut up, Tikki_ , the first voice said.

Lila watched her with the sort of fascination one gives a literal train wreck. "Well, if you're done talking to yourself, I need you to get me your perfume."

"My what?" Crap, now she was hearing things too. That didn't count as hallucinating, right? Hallucinating was only when you saw things that weren't there. Right?

"Your perfume. Go get it," Lila demanded, like she was telling a dog to sit.

"I don't wear perfume."

"Well of course you're not wearing any right now." Lila wrinkled her nose. "You smell like a trash can, but what do you wear when you pretend to be human or go on dates?"

Marinette blinked at her, still mystified by the request. "I don't wear perfume. I don't like how the alcohol in it smells."

Lila blinked at her, seeming to take a minute to process Marinette's words. "What on earth does he see in you? All right then, I'm going to need to see your shampoo and your deodorant."

Marinette was still struggling to process Lila's rapid-fire demands. "Why on earth are you trying to smell like me?"

"Because seduction is all about nuances," Lila snapped back, moving past Marinette and quickly finding her bathroom.

"So, things with Adrien aren't going well," Marinette said hopefully, trailing behind the brunette.

Lila whirled around to face her. "Any other man I would have eating out of the palm of my hand by now. Are you still talking to him? What did you do? Send him nudes?"

Marinette gestured to herself from the ratted bun atop her head to her ancient sweats to the socks with one toe poking out a hole. "Do I look like someone who sends nudes?"

Lila sniffed and turned back to taking pictures of the shampoo in Marinette's shower. "I don't have time to critique your wardrobe."

"What deadline are you on that you don't have time for clever quips, but you do have time to raid my bathroom and learn what toiletry I use?"

Lila slammed the shampoo bottle down on the counter hard enough for some of it to squirt out and shoot her orange, name brand blazer. She gave a shriek of disgust and grabbed Marinette's towel to start wiping the soap off. In that second her façade broke, and Marinette saw a very frazzled woman frantically working to try and succeed where she was clearly failing. She would have felt sorry for her, if the woman hadn't been ruining her life.

"Are you done here, or do I need to tell you which teas I regularly spill on myself too?"

Lila gave her sweats a critical eye. "I think I'm good. Now remember, be a good girl until I see you next and keep away from Adrien."

Marinette scowled and led Lila out, shutting the door firmly behind her and sliding the bolt into place. "And good riddance," she muttered under her breath.

She shuffled back over to her computer, mentally sorting through the information she'd just received. As she did, she reached out and picked up the large thermos that Tikki had brought her. The sticky note on it said "green tea with some honey and other stuff. Drink warm 3." She took several hearty swigs before settling in to write up the new information. The tea was good, not as bitter as it normally was, almost floral/apple-y in taste. Tikki was a veritable magician in making things sweet.

From what she could infer, things were not going well for Lila and her attempts to seduce her boyfriend. Major points to Adrien – she'd add that to the list of reasons she would kiss his face off when she saw him next. She yawned and distractedly chugged some more tea, trying to wake herself up. She'd been going three days strong. She could last a little longer.

Moving as quickly as she could (which was rapidly becoming not quick at all), she tried to type out the entire interaction with Lila so she could review it later. She wondered if she should start bugging her own house so she could record their conversations, but she didn't own anything to bug with, and she still wasn't sure if someone was watching her when Lila wasn't around.

Well, people were watching her. The reporters had been circling within hours of her Facebook relationship status change, but she wasn't sure if any of them were reporting to Lila. She yawned once more, and her eyes started burning from exhaustion. They hadn't done that since the first twenty-four hours. She took another swig of tea, then paused, paying more attention to the flavors.

Tikki hadn't hidden the bitter flavor- there was no bitter flavor! This wasn't green tea – it was chamomile!

"Darnit, Tikki!" she swore, but the damage was done. She'd already drank over half the thermos.

She banged her head against the desk. "Stay awake. Stay awake. Stay awake."

On the third bang, she didn't bother raising her head from the desk – it was just too heavy for her neck to lift it. Maybe she could close her eyes for a minute. That wouldn't be so bad right? As soon as she had the thought, another wave of tiredness crashed over her, and she fell asleep at her desk.

* * *

 **I actually did quite a bit of research on sleep deprivation for this one and it's fascinating. Also scary and dangerous. Regular sleep is really important! Let me know what you all thought! Thanks so much for reading!**


	16. Chapter 16

**This one is a bit shorter than the others, but I do feel like important things happen. Namely a certain bug and cat have a clandestine meeting :D Also, I had quite a few guest commentors last week so give me a minute.**

 **CeceTheFandomQueen- While my story is fascinationg, you should probably sleep at some point. . .**

 **chatnoirispawsom- Yes, I did post the story from ch4. It's under the title "The**

 **Guest (who commented on Feb21)- Yes Tikki is a very clever duck and the sneakiest sneakysneak. As she proves once again in this chapter :D**

 **Darn- Well, while the last chapter was a whole bucket of "Nope!" I hope you can enjoy this fresh serving of "Yessssss"**

 **Guest (who commented on Feb22)- Aww, thank you. Maybe someday I'll get an AO3 account and you can hit the kudos there.**

 **As always, I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Two weeks.

Two weeks of watching and worrying.

Two weeks of talking, begging, and pleading.

For tTwo weeks, Tikki watched Marinette waste away at her computer as she barely ate or drank or slept while her loved ones begged to know what had happened. Alya had been the first- waking up that morning two weeks ago to see that Marinette and Adrien were no longer listed as a couple on Facebook. She'd called to find out what happened. Upon receiving no answer and every call going immediately to voicemail, she went over to see what was wrong. What she'd found had prompted her to immediately call everyone else in for back-up.

But Marinette wouldn't talk to them. Wouldn't leave her house. Sheould would barely leave her room. For two whole weeks.

Two very-not-okay-thank-you-very-much weeks before Marinette finally broke down and told her sister what was going on. When Marinette finally confided in her, Tikki saw red. No one treated her Marinette that way. No one.

So she made some calls, discreetly of course, and assembled a team which she believed capable of solving this problem. The first two had been no problem at all. Contacting them was simple enough, and they'd been more than willing to help once the situation was explained to them.

It was the final member of her team that was giving her the most trouble. He was nearly impossible to contact without arising suspicion. She had half a mind to simply just go ahead with the team she had assembled, but she had a gut instinct that he would be necessary for everything to succeed. And so she kept at it, wheedling and poking and prodding before finally (FINALLY) she had a phone number.

She stared at the scrap of paper in front of her in triumph, her hands shaking in her eagerness to dial the number. She misdialed twice before she calmed down enough to keep her fingers from slipping on the wrong buttons. Then the phone was ringing, and she prayed with all her might that her hard work had paiyed off, and she'd gotten the right number.

There was a click of the phone being answered and a moment of silent before, "Hello? Agreste Industries. How can I help you?"

She wanted to cheer or cry, maybe both. "Hello, this is Mlle. Dupain-Cheng."

The voice on the other end began to curse. "How the hell did you get this number?"

"Luck and persistence," she said, putting her unused hand on her hip, despite the fact that he couldn't see her doing it.

"Listen here, Marinette- If you've got time to be pulling crap like this, why don't you go and fix whatever mess you made with Adrien. The guy's an absolute wreck, and it's all your fault."

"While I am sorry for your predicament, you had three things in your statement there that were wrong."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes. First, Marinette did not get your number. Second, it is not Marinette's fault," she said primly, trying to keep her temper with the grating voice on the other side of the line.

"And the third?" he snarked back.

"I'm not Marinette. My name is Tikki , the other Dupain-Cheng sister."

"There's more of you?" he exclaimed.

Tikki continued talking as if he hadn't interrupted her. "If you'll listen, I have a plan to help out our two little love birds."

The phone was silent for one breath, and then two, and then three. She was bracing herself for disappointment when the voice on the other end spoke up. "I'll listen. Where would you like to meet?"

A wide grin spread across her face. "I heard you like cheese. I know a nice little café near your work. Can you be there in an hour?"

* * *

Tikki fiddled nervously with her skirt as she waited, trying to review everything she wanted to talk about in her mind. She really should have written it all down. Too late now. The bell at the front door tinkled, and she looked up to see a tall, lanky, dark- haired man walk in and look around. He wore a sour expression and was glaring at everyone until his eyes settled on Tikki, the only one in the room wearing a red dress with black polka dots.

He walked over and sat down at her little table. "All right, I'm here. What couldn't you say over the phone?"

"Plagg, I presume?"

"Yup, and you're Tikki. We already introduced ourselves over the phone. Now tell me why I'm here;, you're cutting into my lunch break."

"Are you going to order?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you paying for it?"

"Well, that's hardly gentlemanly," she said.

Plagg snorted. "This isn't a date nor are you a client for work. I don't have to behave."

Tikki stiffened. "I didn't say I thought it was a date."

"Good. Now that we've both established that it's not a date, you can tell me why I'm here."

 _Calm down. You need him,_ Tikki said to herself. "What has Adrien told you?"

"Abso-friggin-lutely nothing."

Tikki noted that he looked genuinely upset by this. His shoulders hunched, and his frown pulled even lower. She reached out and gave his hand an awkward, sympathetic pat. He went stiff at the touch. "I only just got Marinette to tell me."

"And what exactly did she tell you? What could she possibly have said that would make all that she's put Adrien through these past two weeks okay?"

"She's being blackmailed to stay away from Adrien," Tikki snapped. Well, that wasn't quite how she'd planned on going about it. She'd hoped for a bit more finesse and delicacy, but something about Plagg just rubbed her wrong.

Plagg's eyes went wide asnd he leaned back in his chair. "What secret could Adrien's perfect princess have that she could be blackmailed over?"

"That's not my secret to share," Tikki said a little more sharply than she'd intended, feeling protective of her little sister.

He raised a hand to placate her. "All right, fair enough. If it was a secret she was okay with sharing, she wouldn't be being blackmailed over it. Just tell me this, whatever it is, does Adrien know?"

Tikki nodded firmly. "Yes, he definitely knows."

Plagg nodded, his face turning thoughtful. "Then I don't care. What are we going to do about it?"

She felt a wave of relief as a weight lifted off her shoulders at how easily he'd accepted and how willing he was to help.

"Marinette thinks that they person blackmailing her isn't just after Adrien, but something they can only get from Adrien. If we can figure out what it is, we might be able to stop them without her secret being revealed."

Plagg nodded to show he was following. "And who's blackmailing her?"

"You might know her. She's interning at your company. Her name is-"

"Lila Rossi."

Tikki blinked. "Yes. How did you know?"

"She's been all over Adrien like an octopus in a wrestling match since he and Marinette broke up."

"She what?" Tikki shouted, garnering weird looks from some of the other cafe patrons.

"Relax. He's not interested. If anything, he seems annoyed by her. He's developed this eye twitch thing whenever he sees her," Plagg assured, while demonstrating the eye twitch for her. "It's getting hard to make him leave his office, so he's currently living off his fridge stash of protein bars and energy drinks."

"Well at least he's eating something. Marinette's not much better. She's barely left the house. Any time she does, there are reporters waiting to try to get the big scoop on what happened."

"Yeah, Adrien's crashing at my place until things blow over to avoid the same treatment."

She found herself smiling in spite herself. "Well, that's good to hear."

"Yeah, I guess. Not like he's actually sleeping much when he's over anyway."

"But at least he's sleeping. Marinette refused to sleep for the first couple of days. It was getting kind of scary. Eventually, I got worried she'd land herself in the hospital, so I gave her some drugged tea." At Plagg's raised eyebrow she rushed to continue. "Not like, hardcore drugs or anything. It was just chamomile, with a little bit of melatonin mixed in to give it an extra boost."

"I'm not judging. Just making a mental note to never accept a drink from you."

Tikki huffed. "It's not like I make a habit of drugging people. Those were extenuating circumstances. It was necessary."

Plagg leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. "Riiight. So, I assume you went through all the trouble of getting my number for more than just filling me on what's happening?"

"Yes. I'm getting together a group of people, and I thought you would be useful."

He raised an eyebrow. "Not that I'm not incredibly useful, but what did you have in mind?"

"Out of everyone else in the group, I'm the best with technology, but my skills only go as far as anything relevant to gaming. We're going to need someone who knows their way around a computer, and we need someone close to Adrien to keep an eye on him without raising suspicion. You fit both of those bills."

He stretched and brought the front two legs of his chair back down and looked her in the eye. "I'm in. Where are you guys meeting?"

She caught the eye of a passing waiter and motioned for a check to be brought over. "My house. Would you like me to text you the address?"

"That would be fastest. I've got some stuff to finish up, and then I'll call in sick so I can bring some stuff over to help."

"That would be great. I'll call the others and let them know too." The waiter returned with her check, but and when she pulled out her wallet to pay for her forgotten meal, but Plagg held out his hand.

"I got you." And he removed several bills from his wallet and handed it to the waiter, who took it gratefully when Plagg muttered, "Keep the change."

Her brow crinkled in confusion. "I thought you said this wasn't a date?"

"It's not. I'm just helping out a damsel in distress," he said, getting up and walking away.

"I am NOT- You can't just- Get back here and let me pay you back!" Tikki shouted, marching after him.

Plagg just laughed and walked away with a wave over his shoulder, glancing back just long enough to smirk at her.

* * *

 **A big thank you to Starlin's Ghost! (Starlin has some good stories too, you should go read them!) This story wouldn't be near as good without her, and this chapter would be a lot shorter, In fact, it would be most of what you're getting next week :P Other shout out to my cousin for helping edit this for me even when she has never seen a full Miraculous Ladybug episode!**

 **Love you all and thanks so much for reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello all, sorry I'm a day late. I've caught a flu and was sleeping yesterday. Today I'm a little better and since I've been confined to my chair (apparently doing laundry and cleaning litter pans aren't allowed when you're sick :P) I now have lots of time to write and edit today. Just a quick moment to address some guest commenters:**

chatnoirispawsom- **Welcome! and I'm glad you're liking it so far**

CeceTheFandomQueen- **Yeah, I have no idea what their ship is called either- Plikki? Tagg? CatBug?- Either way, I love them too. Writing their interactions is so much fun!**

 **I do no own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

"Where is he? I thought you said he was coming?" Alya said from where she spun lazily in a computer chair.

"He said he was coming, and so he will. Just give him a little more time," Tikki said.

There was a knock at the door causing the three in the room to jump a little. Tikki tried to make it look like she'd been jumping up to get the door but doubted that she fooled Alya or Nino. Someone had blocked the peephole so she couldn't see who it was. Cautiously, she opened the door to reveal a shaggy mess of black hair just visible over a large cardboard box.

"Plagg, is that you?"

He lowered the box so his face was revealed, and he tutted at her. "That was a fail. Never open a door unless you know who's on the other side."

She scowled. "Just get in here."

He passed the threshold, and she had to press herself flat against the wall so that his box could fit her narrow hallway. "Gladly. This thing is heavy."

"What on earth did you bring?"

"Supplies," he said vaguely, leaving her to shut the door and follow behind.

Alya perked up when she saw the two enter. "So you're this Plagg-guy that Tikki's been talking about."

"And you're Alya, the woman who tries to poison people with bad coffee," he retorted, carefully setting the box on Tikki's coffee table before flopping onto the ground with a groan. "I think that was enough cardio for the week."

"A single box up a flight of stairs, and you're done?" Alya asked incredulously.

"Excuse me, it was two flights of stairs and down a really long hallway, thank you very much," Plagg said. "I'm not some nutso like Adrien who runs around dancing and doing parkour in my free time. I have a very selective skill set and that's what I intend to stick with until the day I die."

"Then what good are you here?" Nino asked, finally joining in, he was still on edge after finding out what exactly had happened between Marinette and Adrien.

To be fair, Tikki thought, they all were.

"Lucky for you, my skill sets fall exactly in line with what you need."

Alya was helping herself to Plagg's box, shifting through the contents while it's owner lay on the floor. "Did you bring your whole office with you?"

"Oi! Get out of there. That's delicate equipment."

Alya leaned over the box to stick her tongue out at him, but she did back away. Going over to sit in her boyfriend's lap instead.

"All right. All right. That's enough everyone," Tikki said, taking control of the situation. "We're here for a reason, let's not get distracted."

Plagg sat up with another groan and looked around. "Where's a plug I can use?"

Tikki gestured over to her recliner with a lamp next to it. It was her favorite spot to curl up and read at the end of the day.

Plagg picked up his box and shuffled over the area before setting it down again, this time to pull out the contents. First came a wad of wires, then a green and black computer tower, after that was a keyboard that had Tikki drooling over (it was the latest Razor Chroma ), and finally he pulled out not one, not two, but three monitors. He looked around for a moment before scrambling over his pile to grab the coffee table. "I'm borrowing this."

"Dude," Nino said in shock. "Why didn't you just, like, bring a laptop?"

Plagg looked scandalized. "Because, if we're going to help Adrien we're going to need the very best and this is it."

"I have a perfectly adequate desktop, thank you very much," Tikki said.

He snorted. "I doubt it. I bet it's an Apple."

"See for yourself," Tikki said, pointing to the little alcove in the wall that housed her pride and joy.

Plagg paused in his setting up and went over to inspect it. She only had on monitor, but it was a good model. Without asking permission he got under the desk to look at the tower which looked rather like his only accented in red instead of green. He popped the side panel open and whistled at what he saw inside. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

Tikki went to stand over him and put her hands on her hips. "Well aren't you a curious house cat with no manners."

"Hey, you're the one who said I could take a look. Did you build it yourself?" Plagg said.

"A friend of mine back in college recommended the specs. They said it was a really good set up for gaming."

He nodded. "You're pretty trustworthy. What if they had recommended you crap and you wasted your money on something useless?"

Tikki opened her mouth to argue then swallowed and took a deep breath to calm herself. "As I said before, we have more important things at hand. I suppose two high end computers are better than one. We need to create a plan of attack to take down Lila."

"We could always just kill her," Plagg said from his place under Tikki's desk.

The other three turned to stare at him and he shrugged. "I know a guy."

"ANYWAY," Tikki said, pointedly not looking at him. "We need to take down Lila without getting ourselves put in prison in the process."

"My guy wouldn't get caught," Plagg muttered under the table.

The others ignored him.

"So what do you propose?" Alya asked.

"We need to figure out what Lila is after, and we need to learn more about Lila herself. Marinette's already complied quite a bit about her, and I managed to download most of it when I got her to sleep yesterday."

"Why didn't you just ask her for it?" Nino asked.

"Because she's paranoid that if anyone else gets involved, Lila will target them," Tikki said.

"Not to mention tell the world that she's Ladybug," Plagg said, finally crawling out from under Tikki's desk.

Everyone stared at him.

"What? Adrien spends years with a celebrity crush on this Ladybug chick, and then one day he meets a girl at Comic Con and all he can talk about is her. It's not rocket science. Also, Adrien has the picture of the two of them in costume as his background on his phone."

"I'm going to have to talk to that boy later about the importance of being discreet," Alya said.

"In his defense, nothing is secret from me. I am a hacking god and there's no wall I can't break through. Plus, I got really good at guessing his password so I can change his ringtone." Plagg bragged as he went about setting up his monitors once more.

"Which is why we're including you in our plans," Tikki said, with a roll of her eyes at his drama.

"I thought you said you wanted to take down Lila without going to jail. How is a hacker supposed to help us?" Nino asked.

"A good hacker never gets caught," Plagg said.

"Aaand, there are ways of hacking into someone's data that aren't illegal," Tikki said.

Plagg raised an eyebrow. "I'm impressed, Bug. Not everyone knows that."

"Bug?" Tikki asked in a flat voice.

"Your hair is sticking up like antennae." He used his hands to hold up pieces of his own hair to illustrate his point.

Tikki's hands flew on top of her head to try and pat it down, but it sprung up again as soon as she stopped.

"Still there," Plagg said.

Tikki huffed and clenched her fists to keep herself from putting them over her head again. "Just get your computer set up so you can be useful. Alya, I want you to go over the information I got from Marinette. See if you can organize it in a way that makes sense to someone other than her."

"And me?" Nino asked.

Tikki turned to him with a smile. "You're probably the best out of all of us at being inconspicuous so your job is to follow Lila around and see where she goes and who she talks to."

"But before that, you're going to dress up like a delivery guy and go visit Adrien where he's holed himself up since this whole debacle started," Plagg said, reaching into his box to pull out a hat and jacket.

"How am I supposed to reach him if he's in his office? Won't his secretary stop me?"

Plagg waved his hand completely ignoring the glare Tikki was giving him at changing her plan. "Not if I call her first and let her know. She'll let you through. We've all been worried about him."

"Why don't you do it?"

"Because I called out sick so I could help Bug here, and it'll look suspicious if I turn up just hours after I call in sick," Plagg said, like he was explaining this to a five year old.

Alya bristled with indignation on her boyfriend's behalf, but Nino held out a placating hand to keep her from jumping the man. "All right, so get in, update Adrien, get out, and then find and follow Lila. Got it."

"And bring him food," Plagg said.

"I thought I was just pretending to be a delivery guy?"

"That man has been existing on energy drinks and protein bars for two weeks. Make him eat real food before he gives himself a heart attack or passes out from malnutrition, but don't tell him I'm the one who insisted you brought him food."

"Why on earth not?" Tikki asked in exasperation.

"Tell him it was Marinette, because then he'll actually eat it."

"Sounds like he's doing about as good as Marinette is," Alya said quietly.

Tikki shared a look with Plagg. Over their lunch meeting (definitely not a date) they'd swapped horror stories of their struggles with their respective knuckleheads and already knew that was true. Neither of them was taking the separation well. "Plagg is probably the only one keeping him sane right now."

"You're a good friend, dude," Nino said.

Plagg grunted from behind his computer, and Tikki thought she saw the tips of his ears turning pink. "Hardly. I just want the money from the betting pool."

"What betting pool?" All three asked.

"A bunch of other co-workers were making bets on whether or not Adrien was secretly gay because he never really dated before Marinette. There's an argument going around that they might have broken up because she figured him out so the other half of the betting pool is refusing to shell out."

"You made bets on your friend's sexuality?" Tikki shrieked, looking outraged.

"Yeah, and once I take care of Lila and those two get back together, it'll be the easiest $200 I've ever made," Plagg said.

"The longer I stay the weirder this conversation gets, so I'm just going to go now," Nino said, slowly backing away towards the door and out of the verbal fire fight that was brewing. He gave Alya a kiss goodbye and then swiped the hat and jacket that Plagg had left on the table.

"He likes Chinese food," Plagg called after Nino as he left, oblivious to the increasingly angry Tikki.

"Does he actually, or is that just part of another bet?" she snarled.

He blinked at her, shocked by the attitude change. "Who pooped in your pillow?"

Alya sighed at the man's stupidity and pulled out some headphones to block out the verbal dressing down that Plagg was getting and start working on the information that Tikki had given her. Still though, Alya mused, it was impressive. She'd never seen anyone get under Tikki's skin quite like this Plagg fellow.

* * *

 **Well, there you have it! Team Adrinette is now on the case! Things are definitely moving forward now. Let me know what you all think in the comments below! ^_^**


	18. Chapter 18

**Over 100 reviews! Thank you all so much. This means a lot to me! Have some CatBug! *throws chapter at audience***

 **real quick for some guests who commented-**

chatnoirispawsome- thank you! I hope this chapter also lives up to your expectations. ^_^

CeceTheFandomQueen- Thanks, I'm feeling much better now. Haha, well Plagg is also endearing, so being compared to him isn't really bad in my opinion.

Ashkir- Thank you! I hope you like this one too.

 **Now on to the chapter!**

 **I own nothing Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Plagg watched the left screen lazily while he worked on a program on the other screen and had a youtube video running on the third. Alya sighed and set her laptop aside, getting up and walking over to check out what he was doing.

"How on earth can you focus on all of those at once?"

Plagg removed his headphones and looked up at her. "Huh?"

She repeated her question, and he shrugged. "My brain just works best when I multi-task."

She glanced from his screen and then to his unmoving hand. "Is your left screen glitching?"

He frowned and glanced over at the screen. "No, it's fine."

"Your arrow is moving without your mouse."

"Oh, that's not my screen."

Alya frowned. "Whose screen is it then?"

"Lila's work computer."

"I thought we weren't doing anything illegal?" Alya asked, now watching the screen with interest.

He grinned. "We're not. It was in her contract that she signed. Anything that she does on her work computer, and the computer itself, is intellectual property of Agreste Industries, and we have the right to check that information whenever we wish. I'm hoping that she'll get on her personal email account so I can go through and search that, but so far she's been maddeningly professional. How's your search going?"

Alya huffed. "About as good as yours. She has kept herself out of the lime light fairly well despite her penchant for dating rather high-profile people."

"Oh, like who?" Tikki asked, pushing away from her desk and coming over to join the conversation.

"Mostly big wigs and CEOs. People with deep pockets. She comes from a socialite family, though it sounds like she herself doesn't have much to her name."

"What companies?" Tikki asked.

Alya went back to her computer and listed off the men Lila had dated as well as the companies that they'd worked for. Tikki frowned. "Some of those sound familiar."

Plagg frowned too. "Yeah, they're almost ringing a bell with me."

"Those companies . . ." Tikki muttered, running over to her computer and beginning to type furiously.

Plagg got up and walked over to watch her. "What are you thinking, Bug?"

Tikki rolled her eyes, but otherwise ignored the nickname. "I follow the stock market. Some of those companies are ones I've invested in. I have a thought, and I want to follow up on it"

Alya's phone started to ring then. She picked it up and said,looked at it. "It's Nino, guys. Maybe he found something while trailing Lila."

"Hey, Babe." She listened for a moment and frowned. "She did what?. . . . Where? . . . . With who?. . . . Well, can you get a picture? Maybe we can figure it out. . . . 'Kay, love you bye."

"What's up with Nino?" Tikki asked, not taking her eyes away from the screen as she continued to type and click, pulling up various windows as she did.

"Lila is meeting up with someone for lunch. They look pretty cozy according to him." Alya said.

"She's dating someone while trying to get with Adrien?" Plagg said, looking outraged on his friend's behalf.

"Well, are you really that surprised? It's not like she gave off the aura of being a saint or anything," Alya said, eyes brightening as her phone buzzed with an incoming text. "Ooo. That'll be the pic from Nino." Her shoulders sagged. "I don't know who this is."

Plagg left Tikki's side to go look at Alya's phone . . . and promptly began swearing. "Son of a motherless goat! That queen of harlots is so fired!" He proceeded to continue cussing, Alya staring at him wide-eyed, and even Tikki pulled away from her screen to watch him until he was panting and glaring at the phone screen.

"I have neighbors you know," Tikki said once he'd run out of steam. "I hope that little tirade was worth the noise complaints I'm about to get."

"That's Theo Barbot!" Plagg spat, like the man's name was its own curse.

"Still not following," Tikki said.

"He's the top computer programmers for one of our main competitors," Plagg explained, still glaring at Alya's phone screen.

"What's he doing going out to dinner with Lila?" Alya asked.

"I don't know, but there's no way anything good can come out of those two knowing each other," Plagg said.

Tikki still hadn't left her spot at her computer. "Guys, with that new information, I think I've got something."

Plagg and Alya made their way back over to see what she was talking about.

"You see this guy?" she pulled a picture of a man with dark hair and a thick, but relatively short beard. "That's Thomas Astruc, from Zag Corrporation. I was invested in his stock, and last year it took quite a hit when they had an information leak that compromised some of the CEO's."

"Why is this important?" Plagg asked, his tone telling her to get to the point.

"Because three months before this happened Thomas Astruc was dating a Ms. Lila Rossi."

Plagg's face looked like Christmas had come early. "Please tell me you're saying what I think you're saying."

Tikki nodded to his unasked question. "I just checked, and there's a similar pattern with five of the other men she's dated and them having drops in their stock due to unfortunate instances either while or shortly after dating her."

"Black Cat is set to be released next week," Plagg whispered.

"Yes, I also saw that promotion. Quite a bit of hype as the only one of its, kind isn't it?"

"She didn't start blackmailing Marinette until after that hack failed, so that means . . ."

"Yup," Tikki said, letting the "p" pop on her lips.

Plagg let out a whoop and fist bumped the air. "Forget fired. I'm suing you for all your worth, you and your friend with the stupid goatee!"

This time, Tikki didn't berate him for his volume, just watched him happy dance around her living room with a mildly amused expression.

Alya raised her hand. "Pardon me, but I'm still not following."

Tikki smiled. "Between the picture your boyfriend got and the information I just found, there is a very good chance that Lila is a corporate spy."

"And she's after the Black Cat security software that we created," Plagg interjected, then leaned forward and kissed both of Tikki's cheeks. "Thank you, my goddess of good luck. We couldn't have figured it out without you."

Tikki's face burst into a bright red to rival her hair. "N-Nino and Alya did just as much as me."

He grinned at her. "I'm not kissing them. None of this could have happened without you bringing us together." Then proceeded to do a happy dance about the room.

Alya watched his antics with a laugh. "Should I be offended that I'm not important enough to receive a kiss or relived that he didn't bring those camembert lips anywhere near me?"

Tikki seemed to be slowly combusting in her seat. Alya swore she could see the smoke coming from her ears as her brain tried to process. "He didn't smell that bad," she mumbled, bringing a hand to touch one of the cheeks he kissed.

"I'm going to call Adrien," Plagg said, pulling out his phone. "We'll have her fired by tomorrow morning."

"Wait!" Tikki shouted, making Plagg pause with his finger hovering over the call button.

"Why not?"

"Everything we have, while really damning, is just circumstantial and won't likely hold up in court. So, she had lunch with a guy from a company you don't get a long with; so, all of the past men she's dated have had unfortunate accidents in one way or another. We have nothing to _prove_ that Lila actually is a corporate spy."

"What are you suggesting that we do then?" Alya asked.

Tikki frown and steeped her fingers together as she thought. They watched with baited breath until her head popped up, and she pointed a finger at Plagg. "You- call Adrien, we're going to need him." She then turned her finger on Alya. "You- call Nino and tell him to get back here. Also tell him that we're going to need some of his recording equipment that he uses for the Ladybug stuff."

"What are you plotting?" Alya asked, as she brought the phone up to her ear.

Tikki grinned mischievously. "Something to prove we're right."

* * *

 **Next chapter might be a bit. I know the general idea of what I want to happen, but every time I try to write it out, it's not coming out right. :( Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. You guys are the best. Until next time!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Here's the next chapter. Thank you all very much for your patience. Here's a look into the friendship of Adrien and Plagg. It was a lot of fun to write. :D**

 **I'm going to adress those guest commentars now:**

 **Guest- Awww. Thank you!**

 **CeceTheFandomQueen- I'm honored and thrilled that you think highly of me :)**

 **Ashkir- Sorry for the cliffhangers. I don't think chapter is much better.**

 **Guest- Yeah, Lila's not getting out of this unscathed.**

 **chatnoirispawsome- I'm so glad that you're enjoying this**

 **Dev- Ahahaha! XD My sister got my ffn info because she said my cousin was into MLB and wanted to give it to her. I'm so glad my cousin shared this with you too.**

 **Now on to the story-**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Adrien sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Plagg reached out and clapped him on the shoulder. "You good? Do we need to go over the plan again?"

Adrien shook his head and leaned back in his chair, letting Plagg's hand slip from his shoulder as he did so. "Please don't play that slideshow again."

"Awww, but Tikki worked so hard on it," Plagg whined.

Before Adrien could come up with a retort to that his desk phone rang to let him know that his secretary was calling him. He picked it up. "Hello?"

"Mr. Agreste? Lila Rossi, from marketing is here to see you."

"Very well. Send her in." He hung up the phone and suppressed a groan.

Plagg gave him a sympathetic look, or maybe he was just grimacing? It was hard to tell with him.

Lila came in wearing a short pencil skirt and another impossibly tight blouse. "Mr. Agreste? I have a few last-minute changes that the marketing department wanted to go over with you."

"Very well, come in and have a seat." He gestured at the chair in front of his desk while Plagg glowered at her.

Lila seemed to wilt a little under his intense stare and Adrien looked back and forth between the two. "Is there a problem, Plagg?"

"Surely Ms. Rossi is aware of our dress protocol. Or did she have an unfortunate accident with the dryer and all her clothes shrunk two sizes?"

Lila's cheeks turned pink at the comment and she hunched into herself, somehow managing to pusher chest out even more in the process, but she didn't get a chance to say anything because Adrien did first. "Plagg! That's hardly appropriate."

"What she wears is hardly appropriate!" Plagg shot back.

"You're one to talk about being the pinnacle of professionalism," Adrien said dryly, pointing to Plagg's shirt which said, "There are two kinds of people in this world, those who can extrapolate from in complete data."

"And I would be more than happy to let her borrow one of my shirts. I have a few spares in my office."

"No one wants to touch anything of yours when everything of yours smells like stinky cheese," Adrien said, getting up out of his chair to glare at Plagg.

"You have no taste of the finer things in life," Plagg said, sticking his nose up in the air.

"Get out of my office," Adrien growled.

Plagg blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, get out."

Plagg was silent for a minute, looking between Adrien and Lila, who was staring at them both in open mouthed shock. He pressed his lips together in a hard line and marched out without saying another word, slamming the door behind him when he left.

Adrien slumped in to his chair and brought his hands up to cover his face as he took a few shaky breaths. Once composed, he lowered his hands and shot an apologetic smile to Lila. "Sorry about that. Do you want to come back another time?."

"No. No. It's alright, it's just ummm, are _you_ alright, Mr. Agreste?"

He waved his hand dismissively. "I'm fine. Plagg's just been a nosy old maid with far too much interest in my love life, and it's wearing on my nerves."

"Oh?"

"I'm sorry, you came in here to tell me something the marketing department needs approval for?"

Lila was silent for a moment, like she was weighing her options. Finally she looked up at him, her eyes wide and sincere. "Mr. Agreste- No- Adrien, are you alright?"

"I'm fi- You know what, no, no I am not. I'm not fine. I'm tired and cranky and I don't know what I did wrong, but Marinette still won't talk to me."

Lila reached out and put a hand over his. "Oh no, that's so awful."

"I just wish I knew why," he said quietly, not looking up.

"You know what? I think you need a night out."

He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You're stressing yourself out and it's not good. Take a night off from your worries so you can look at it with a new perspective tomorrow. I was going to do a night out with a friend, but they texted me just before I came here and said that they couldn't make it. It would be shame for those reservations to go to waste."

One. Two. Three beats of silence, before Adrien let out a long, slow breath. "You might be right."

Lila jumped up and flashed him a brilliant grin then leaned forward to scribble something on his notepad. "Excellent. Here's the address and the time and, just in case, here's my number too. I'll see you tonight."

"Uhhh. Thank you?" Adrien said, taken aback by her aggressiveness.

Her grin only widened. "Any time. Oh, and Adrien?"

He blinked up at her. "Yes?"

"I promise it will only get better from here." Her tone dripped with sincerity, but something about her posture, or maybe it was just the tiny blouse, seemed to convey an innuendo to her words.

Then she left, before he could respond. He sat back and was trying to interpret the whirlwind that had just occurred, when his door burst open once more to reveal Plagg. He locked the door behind him to ensure no interruption then marched over to Adrien's desk and started to fish through his drawers.

"What are you doing?" Adrien asked.

Plagg ignored him until he found what he was looking for and held up a Chat Noir action figure that used to decorate Adrien's desk. Then he looked at Adrien with a straight face as he said, "Now, show us on the doll where the mean lady touched you."

Adrien snorted and shoved the doll (ahem, action figure) away. "Knock it off, Plagg."

"Seriously though, what happened after I left?" Plagg asked, sitting on the edge of Adrien's desk.

Adrien shrugged. "I followed the plan and things went pretty much exactly as Tikki predicted."

"That's because Tikki is a genius. So you're meeting with her soon?"

"Yeah, tonight."

Plagg raised his eyebrows. "Wow. That was quick."

"Yeah, well, Black Cat is set to release really soon. She hasn't exactly got a lot of time left."

Plagg nodded and rubbed his chin. "True. True, but it's still going to be a pain trying to get your apartment properly bugged by tonight, and I still need to finish building my trojan horse."

"Then what are you doing here? That's way more important, get going," Adrien said, waving him off.

Plagg widened his eyes and tried to look innocent. "But Adrien, I had to come back and sincerely apologize to my best friend and beg his forgiveness because we got in a fight." He then broke into a grin and continued, "also, I'm out of camembert so I'm here to take what I left in here because I can't create anything without God's gooey nectar to stimulate my brain."

Adrien mimed gagging. "Alright, you're forgiven, now go take all of it out. It makes my protein bars taste funny."

Plagg put a hand over his heart in mock offense. "You take that back or we'll have a real fight on our hands!"

"No. And why are you offended? My not liking it just means that you don't have to worry about me eating it even though you store it in _my_ fridge."

"I store most of it in my fridge. I just ate it all, so now I'm taking some out of yours," Plagg said as he made his way over to the mini fridge.

"Either get a bigger fridge or find somewhere else to stick your stuff!" Adrien said with exasperation.

"I wonder how Tikki would feel if I put camembert in her fridge?" Plagg mused as he took a bite out of one of his cheese wedges.

Adrien did a double take. "Is there something going on that you're not telling me?"

"Absolutely nothing," Plagg said immediately, though his cheeks flushed and he refused to make eye contact.

Adrien stared at his best friend. Really stared. His hair had been cut and groomed, his shirt (while sarcastic as ever) was clean and free of cheese crumbs, and he had a general aura of cleanliness and put-together-ness that Adrien had never seen before. It couldn't be anyone at work, no one knew had been hired in months, but Plagg didn't get out much so the odds of him meeting some were pretty low. Well that wasn't true, he'd met three someones quite recently. Alya and Nino were out because they were totally in to each other. Which just left. . . "OHMYGOSH! YOU LIKE TIKKI!"

"Shhhhh!" Plagg said, flapping his arms about in a panic. Adrien thought his flailing reminded him of those videos of cats and cucumbers. "Do you want the whole building to hear, you weeaboo nerd!"

"I fail to see what my liking anime has anything to do with the current conversation."

"It means that you can't handle any romance without acting like a total fangirl," Plagg snapped.

"I am offended."

Plagg held up the Chat Noir action figure and then reached in to the still open drawer to retrieve the Ladybug one that went with it. "Did you or did you not make these two hold hands on your desk when Marinette agreed to date you, like a total weeaboo creep?"

"I- That's not- You can't- Give me those!" Adrien spluttered, making a grab for the dolls (ahem, action figures).

Plagg danced back from with desk and out of reach, laughing while he waved the miniature Ladybug and Chat Noir in the air. "Why do people think you're the mature one?"

"Because I can tie a tie and use big words," Adrien sniffed gesturing to his suit as if that proved his point.

The two looked at each other in silence for a moment before they both busted up laughing. Plagg walked over and dropped the dolls onto Adrien's desk. Adrien carefully returned them to their drawer before looking up at Plagg with a grin. "Thanks. I'm less nervous now."

Plagg nodded. "Then my work here is done." He got up to leave but paused at the door. "Adrien, you know that no matter how this all plays out and no matter what happens tonight, I got your back, right?"

A lump formed in his throat at his friend's rare moment of sincerity. "Yeah, Plagg, I know that, just like if ever you need me, I got yours."

Plagg nodded once more and left without another word. When he did, Adrien felt more at peace that he had in weeks. Whatever happened tonight, it was the beginning of the end.

* * *

 **Thanks for following me this far! The feedback I've been getting makes me so happy ^_^ You guys are the greatest.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Let me just dump this bucket of feel on you people and then run away. You might want some tissues for this one. . . I made myself cry.**

 **A quick address to the guest commenters:**

 **CeceTheFandomQueen- Hahaha, if you couldn't handle the last chapter, good luck with this one (muahahah)**

 **Ashkir- Yeah, they are totally messing with Lila**

 **chatnoirispawsome- Yup. they have the best bromance. Have you seen the episode with Captain Hardrock? I think Plagg trying to cheer him up there is adorable!**

 **Hails- You know, I was having a really hard day and then you posted this and it motivated me to finish editing this chapter and work on the next one. SO thank you so much for your kind words!**

 **Please stay tuned at the end because I have something that I would like your opinion on.**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Adrien fiddled with his tie as he sat at the table, waiting for Lila. She was the one that set this up, so why was she late? He fiddled with his ear piece and muttered. "Any sign of her, Plagg?"

"None yet and quit touching your ear every time you talk. It's a dead giveaway that you're wearing an earpiece," Plagg's voice said into his ear.

While he couldn't see him, Adrien knew Plagg was watching and had to fight the urge to stick his tongue out at him. After all, he was alone in a fancy restaurant and that would look even weirder than constantly touching his ear. Right now people probably thought it was a nervous tick or he had an ear infection, but if he started randomly sticking his tongue out at nothing people might start thinking he was just crazy. Which might work to his advantage anyway because then he would get kicked out and wouldn't have to go on this stupid date.

"I don't think she's coming. Can't we just call it quits and go home?" Adrien begged.

This time it was Tikki in his ear. "Oh no, you don't. She's coming. There's no way she would miss out on this opportunity, since it's probably her last chance before you guys release Black Cat. She's coming and I have the plan in place to catch her. Trust me."

"But what if Marinette walks by and sees me with her?" Adrien asked, his panic starting to create all sorts of worst-case scenarios in his mind.

"That won't happen. I've got Nino on babysitting duty making sure that she doesn't leave the house tonight," Tikki assured.

Then, there was a loud banging noise in his ear, like a door being slammed open, that made him jump. Shouting in his earpiece grew loud before it suddenly cut silent. Tikki must have muted the mike. What happened? Had someone called the cops? Or a hit squad? Were they under attack?

"Tikki? Tikki, are you okay? What's going on? You know what – this is a sign. I can't do this. I can't go through with it. I'm just as likely to punch Lila as I am to shake her hand. I'm sorry, Tikki, but I just can't do this."

He moved to take the earpiece out, when static let him know that the sound had been turned back on and he heard a voice that made him freeze. "Adrien Agreste, you will sit down, and you will wait for Lila to get there, and then you will charm the ever-living pants off that woman until we have the evidence that we need to end this."

Adrien couldn't have stood if he wanted to. His legs grew weak when he heard her voice for the first time in weeks and he probably couldn't have seen where he was going anyway because tears had filled his eyes. "Marinette," he breathed.

He heard her breath hitch and was certain that she was crying too. "Hey."

He put his hands over his face and struggled to maintain his composure, he was in a public place.

"Might I suggest you go somewhere less public for your emotional breakdown," Plagg's dry voice said.

"Shut up, Plagg," Adrien said, though he stood shakily and made his way to the men's room where far fewer could watch him meltdown just because he heard his girlfriend's voice. Gosh, he was a mess! He locked the door and leaned against the wall, then took a few deep breaths to calm down.

"I can't do it, Mari. I can't go out there and pretend to love her."

"So, don't," Marinette said.

"But-"

"Listen," Marinette said gently, and Adrien quieted, closing his eyes to better drink in the sound of her voice. "Lila doesn't need you to love her – she needs you to be emotionally compromised enough for her to manipulate. You don't need to pretend to be in love with her; just be the brokenhearted boyfriend who has no idea why his girlfriend broke up with him. A lost soul she can lead."

Adrien barked out a bitter laugh. "I think I can do that."

The line was silent, and he knew he'd hurt her with that one. "Adrien, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I just- I wish-"

"Shhh. Shhhh," Adrien said soothingly, his arms aching to wrap around her to comfort and let them both know that it was all okay. "It's alright. I know you've been fighting your own demons. We'll get through this. I promise."

"Yeah," Marinette said thickly, her voice choked with the tears. "We will."

"I hate to interrupt, but Adrien, we're going to need you to pull yourself together and get back out there. Lila just arrived."

He groaned. "Give me a minute."

"That's literally all you get. Any more than that, and she'll get suspicious," Plagg said.

"Yeah, yeah," Adrien said, standing up and wiping his face dry as he made his way over to the sink. He splashed it with cold water to get rid of the redness currently rimming his eyes.

"I better go," Marinette said quietly.

"Mari?"

There was a pause, and then her voice spoke out over the earpiece again. "Yeah?"

"I love you."

He heard her sob and then choke out, "I love you too, Adrien."

Then he heard the muffled voice of Tikki telling Alya to take the mike.

"Alright boys and girls," Alya said with a cheeriness that sounded forced. "It's show time. Adrien, we're going on radio silence after this. You'll only hear us if it's an absolute emergency, but don't forget that we can hear everything you say and that we're recording you. If you need us to pull you out, your safe word is 'miraculous,' got it?"

"Got it," Adrien confirmed, his mouth pressed into a thin line as he straightened his tie in the mirror.

"Radio silence in three. Two." There was a click and the faint buzz of feedback in his ear stopped.

"One," Adrien said, then walked towards the doors to retake his seat.

Marinette ran into Tikki's kitchen with her hand over her mouth to try and stifle her sobs. When she made it she slumped down to the linoleum and leaned against the fridge, still trying to hold her tears in.

Tikki followed not far behind and came to sit beside her with much more grace that Marinette had done.

"And just how badly did you beat up poor Nino to make him talk?" Dry amusement in her tone, but worry shone in her eyes.

"I didn't touch him. I just asked a few pointed questions about why all of you have been acting weird lately and gave him a stare," Marinette hiccupped out through her sobs.

"Oooo. A patented Marinette Dupain-Cheng stare – you may have scarred the poor boy for life."

Marinette could only shake her head. She knew Tikki was trying to get her to smile, or at least calm down, but she was too distraught for it to work.

Tikki seemed to realize this and opened her arms in a 'come here' gesture until Marinette curled into her sister, taking comfort in the familiar-ness of it. For the moment, she could pretend she was five again and this was just another scraped knee and her big sister was there to comfort and protect just like always. How long they stayed there, she wasn't sure. Tikki didn't talk, just sat beside her and rubbed soothing circles on her little sister's back until the sobs faded into to sniffles, then to hiccups, and finally a weary silence.

Only once Marinette was fully calmed down did Tikki speak up. "Do you want to talk first, or do you want to listen first?"

"Talk," Marinette said quietly.

"Alright, get it out," Tikki said softly, still rubbing Marinette's back and they leaned against the fridge.

"I hurt him, Teek. I hurt him, and he still said that he loves me," Marinette said, not moving her head from where it still rested against her sister's chest.

"Because Adrien is a very kind and forgiving man," Tikki said.

"I don't deserve him," Marinette said quietly.

Tikki took her sister by the chin and gently guided her up until they could look each other in the eye. "Do you truly believe that?"

"Yes," Marinette said, eyes watering once more at the confession.

"Why?" Tikki asked.

"Because this whole fiasco is my fault. His pain, my pain, your pain, everyone's – it's my fault. If I had been more careful about my secrets or cared less or been braver – if I'd been more of _anything_ , this whole thing could have been avoided."

"You can't change the past," Tikki said, gently but firmly. "What are you going to do about the future?"

"I- I-" Marinette couldn't bring herself to say it. She knew she needed to break up with Adrien, needed to make sure this never happened to him again, but the thought of it tore her heart to pieces! Especially with his "I love you" still echoing in her mind.

Tikki held up a finger. "Can it be my turn to talk?"

Marinette nodded, grateful to be saved from the need to say it herself.

"Remember how after my first three months of college I dropped off the face of the earth?"

Marinette blinked at that. This was not what she had been expecting. "Yeah, mom and dad went ballistic."

Tikki smiled. "I'm sure they did. Anyway, do you want to know why?"

Marinette stared at her sister open mouthed. This was not a part of her past that her sister talked about. Five years ago, after being in college for only three months, Tikki dropped out, left her dorm and disappeared. Her parents and her had no idea where Tikki was or what she was doing – only received the occasional text basically saying, "I'm alive. Leave me alone." It was, unfortunately, enough for the cops to turn them away when her parents tried to file a missing persons report.

Six months later, just as suddenly, she was back in school like nothing had happened, and after a couple of fights, the whole family had agreed not to talk about it. Dumbly, Marinette nodded. Of course she wanted to know. She'd wanted to know for years!

Tikki took a deep, steadying breath before she began. "I couldn't take it. I couldn't take the pressure. I thought I had to be perfect. In high school I always had straight A's, was always the best at anything and everything I did. When I got to college I expected it to be just like that. To just get it, but it didn't work like that. There were concepts that I couldn't understand no matter how much I studied. I expected it to be easy and way over-filled my schedule. Everything I did was half-assed because I didn't have time to do anything properly. It felt like everything kept piling up higher and higher. Dirty dishes, failed assignments, lack of sleep. Finally, I snapped. I got up and walked away. I walked away from everything- school, life, Mom, Dad . . ." Her voice got quieter and she looked at Marinette apologetically. "You. I just couldn't handle the responsibility. The pressure."

Her hands started moving faster as she continued. "I'm not sure where I would have ended up if not for Wayzz." Marinette blinked. She knew Wayzz; she didn't know Tikki had known him during the time she'd disappeared. "I was only homeless for the first couple of nights before he found me."

"Wait. You were homeless?" Marinette interjected, unable to contain herself. A sick feeling of guilt filled her stomach that Tikki had gone through that and she had never known.

Tikki waved her hand, like that part of the story wasn't important. "Yes, but only for a few days, then Wayzz found me. We shared a class and had been on a few dates, but I didn't think I'd made that much of an impact for him to actually go out and _look_ for me. Well, it wasn't actually me. He said, when he saw me last, I had a look that reminded him of his brother right before he'd disappeared. Then I ran off and he couldn't stand the thought of history repeating without doing something about it. Anyway, I spent most of the first month lying on his couch too depressed to do anything while Wayzz made sure I ate and took some kind of care of myself."

Marinette resolved to make a large batch of cookies for the next time she saw Wayzz. The man had more than earned it.

"After that he decided I'd moped long enough and started pestering me that I needed to talk to someone, that I couldn't just spend the rest of my life on his couch. At first, I told him to stuff it and leave me alone and threatened to run away again." Tikki's smile was bittersweet. "He saw right through all my bull and eventually wore me down. I agreed to sit with a therapist for an hour once a week and he agreed to leave me alone. I figured I would just go and we would stare at each other for an hour and then I'd leave having fulfilled my end of the bargain. At first, that's what I did, but sitting in silence for an hour gets pretty boring so eventually I started to talk, just to fill the time, not expecting anything to come from it. At first, I didn't notice anything. But after I'd been going for almost two months, Wayzz and I were sitting together drinking tea and he said something, I don't even remember what, but I started laughing. For the first time in months I was laughing and when I realized that I started crying _and_ laughing. It was like this emotional dam had broken and everything was flooding out at once. Wayzz freaked out at first, but then calmed down and just hugged me until I got myself under control. Once I calmed down Wayzz handed me my phone and I called my therapist and said that I wanted to try for real.

"It wasn't easy, but it got better from there. Eventually I reached the point where I wanted to try again so I re-enrolled, this time taking fewer classes and making more time for myself. I wouldn't call it a happy ending, more of a work in progress, but I'm where I am today because of Wayzz and my therapist."

Marinette wrapped her arms around her sister and pulled her in to a tight hug. "I had no idea."

Tikki patted her on the head. "Of course you didn't. I never told you. I never told anyone. I'm sure Mom and Dad guessed when they got the insurance bill for a psychologist, but they've let it be. Anyway, I didn't tell you this story to earn pity points."

"Then why did you?"

"Because you deserve to be happy, and if there's anything to be learned from this, it's that you have a few demons of your own you need to face down, but I'd rather you not wait until you're homeless and bumming it on a friend's couch to do so. Something like this will happen again. You need to face your fears and your anxieties, but you don't need to do it alone. In fact, you shouldn't do it alone. I'm here. Adrien's here. Alya and Nino are here. Mom and Dad are here. Even that Plagg fellow is rooting for you. If you'll let me, I'd like to introduce you to a very nice man who can also help you."

Marinette sat, contemplating Tikki's story and her advice. She was terrified, but if her sister could be brave and share her biggest weakness, then she could be brave and try to move forward. "Do you have his number?"

Tikki smiled and pulled out her phone. "You're going to love Dr. Fu."

* * *

 **Alright, so I've been thinking about getting a account, but I wanted to know if anyone would actually donate. I was thinking that for extra content I could include things like short stories, maybe audiobooks of this fanfics, perhaps requests for short stories (within reason) I could post some of my original work there. I want to know if you guys think I should do it, and if I do- what do you want? I really want to know your opinion. Thanks in advance, you guys are the best! *hugs***


	21. Chapter 21

**Sooo my laptop died. Yesterday. Not sure if it's dead dead, or just playing dead to get attention. Thankfully most of my stuff is backed up and good news for you guys, the only things I lost don't have anything to do with this fanfiction. Still pretty miffed about what I did lose though. . .**

 **My guest commentators:**

 **LilliaGirl- Awww, when you can touch even the hearts of the undead and emo, you know you did something right with the feels :P**

 **Ashkir- Yeah, once I realized Tikki as a human is incapable of being the beautiful perfection that she is as a goddess, this beautiful imperfect perfection basically wrote itself.**

 **chatnoirispawsome- PM me. I'd be interested in talking more about that.**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Lila stood when she saw Adrien walking towards her. She flashed him a million-watt smile. "I thought you'd gotten tired of waiting for me and left."

Tonight she had rid herself of the mini pencil skirt and tight blouse, in favor of a cream sweater interwoven with threads of gold which hung off one shoulder to show a beige bra strap against a canvas of perfectly smooth olive skin, with soft brown pants that hugged her long, curved legs. Completed with a pair of gold flats. She'd gone more for the innocent girl-next-door vide than the seductress secretary. When she leaned forward to hug him there was something achingly familiar about that scent that made him want to hold her closer until he could remember where it came from and why it made his heart ache.

Oh, she was good. This was not what Adrien had been suspecting and it threw him for a loop. He fiddled with his tie as he tried to collect his thoughts while they both sat down. "It- uh- It appears I've overdressed."

She laughed lightly. "Oh no. I'm underdressed. I lost track of time and decided it was better to come as I am than keep you waiting any longer. I'm sorry I'm such a mess."

To the unobserving eye, that would probably seem true, but Adrien was on high alert and he could tell from the immaculate ponytail without a hair out of place to the simple, sophisticated gold necklace that the entire thing had been carefully thought out. Two could play this game. "You're not a mess at all. Your warm smile outshines everyone here."

Lila laughed again and brought a hand to cover her cheek in false modesty. "You flatterer! With smooth moves like that I don't know how you got named the 'black cat' of thirty under thirty."

Adrien grimaced. "Just never had good luck picking I guess. I thought my luck had finally turned around lately, buuut. . ." he let his voice trail off as his features crumpled and he lowered his face to his plate. The pain wasn't even that hard to fake, his heart still felt raw after talking to Marinette and he hadn't even really had time to process all of those emotions. As long as he pretended that the person in front of him was a friend (Plagg perhaps? No, Nino. That felt better, he was less likely to be rude to Nino) and not the cause of all the pain, he could get through this night. He jus had to keep her talking until Tikki said it was time to move on the Phase 3. Phase 1 having been Adrien agreeing to the date, and Phase 2 being the date itself.

Lila reached out, as if to hold his hand, when the waiter appeared to take their order and Adrien pulled out of her reach. They placed their orders and an awkward silence fell between them. Adrien felt no need to break it and kept his eyes firmly glued to his plate while he watched her worry her napkin out of the corner of his eye.

She cleared her throat and he finally glanced up. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you sad."

"It's not your fault," Adrien said, the lie tasting bitter in his mouth and a momentary desire to scream and rage at her for interfering in his life rose before he mentally forced it back down and into a box to toss aside for another day.

She laughed humorlessly. "Well I guess this is one way to get to our reason for meeting tonight. You said you wanted advice, want to tell me what's going on?"

Adrien sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. Nino. He was talking to Nino. A quiet voice in the back of his mind told him that there was a very good possibility that Marinette was listening to this as well and that made him choose his words carefully. "Everything was going fine in the beginning. More than fine really. I thought we were really going somewhere. It's been so long since I've had any kind of long term relationship and I was feeling hopeful about this one. I was-" his voice choked and he struggled for a moment to regain composure as he struggled to not cry in the restraint. . . again. "I was starting to think that she might be the one. I never told her, I didn't want to scare her off or make her feel like she had to commit to something she wasn't ready for, but it seems like it didn't matter."

He couldn't look at her. He was sure whatever look was on Lila's face would make him want to punch her, so he kept his eyes firmly glued on his hands as he worried the silver ring on his finger. "One night, out of the blue, she calls me up and wants to talk. I was completely blindsided. I thought everything was fine. I begged her to know what was going on, but she didn't want to talk. Just kept crying and saying she was sorry." He looked up at Lila then, her face blurred from the tears he refused to shed. "I still don't know what I did wrong. She's refused to talk to me since that night."

Lila made a sympathetic noise and reached across the table, not quite touching him. Hovering nearby and waiting for permission to move further. Adrien drew into himself and pulled his hands closer to his chest. "Oh Adrien, you poor thing. I can't believe she did something like that too you," she cooed, seeming unbothered by his withdrawal from her.

"I can't believe it either," Adrien said, his voice toneless, deciding that no emotion was the safer option to the anger that was once more brewing within him.

The waiter returned then, placing their orders in front of them and then practically running away from the heavy atmosphere between the two.

They both took a few bites of their food before Lila spoke up again. "You know it's not your fault right? You did nothing wrong."

"What other reason could there be?" The words slipped out of his mouth and he wince inside, hoping Marinette hadn't heard him speaking with so much bitterness.

"It's obviously her fault, not yours." She sounded confident, her words meant to be soothing, but only acting to enrage him further.

He shook his head firmly. "There was nothing wrong with her. If she would just tell me what was going through her head, I'm sure we could fix this."

"Adrien," Lila said gently, "aren't you putting too much stalk in one girl. You only dated a couple of months. How well could you have really known her?"

"Two people can get to know each other quite well in much less time than that if they're both open an honest with each other," Adrien said quietly.

"But she's not talking to you now and clearly she must have been keeping some kind of secret from you. Problems like this don't just happen overnight. Whatever is going on with her must have been building for some time and she just never told you."

"That. . . sounds logical," Adrien said slowly.

"Of course it does, because the truth is always logical," Lila said confidently.

He shoved a mouthful of pasta into his mouth to give himself time to think and stop himself from saying anything stupid. Tikki would murder him if he ruined everything now. He was saved the need to answer when his phone went off. He pulled it out of his pocket, shooting her an apologetic look, then frowned as he looked at the caller ID. It wasn't anyone he knew and he couldn't imagine who would call him at this late hour that couldn't talk to him through his earpiece.

"This might be work," Adrien muttered to Lila as an excuse before he swiped to answer his phone. "Hello?"

"Yes. Is this Mr. Adrien Agreste?"

"Yes, this is he." Adrien waited for the person on the other line (who he suspected was some kind of salesman) to start offering him "the deal of his life!".

His eyebrows shot up when instead he heard, "This is Officer Raincomprix from PPD. I'm here with several other officers responding to a break-in report to Agreste Industries. We need you to come down here and confirm for us wither or not anything was stolen."

Adrien shot out of his chair. "Absolutely, I'll be right there."

Lila looked up at him alarmed. "What's happening?" she asked, quietly but urgently, her voice coming out as a hiss.

A waiter appeared beside Adrien. "Sir, is everything alright?"

Adrien put his hand over the speaker. "I'm terribly sorry, but an emergency came up. Can you box our meals and bring me the check?"

The waiter frowned but left to do as he was asked. Lila was looking more alarmed by the moment as she waited for Adrien to tell her what was going on. The waiter came back and Adrien fished through his pocket to pull out his wallet and shove a fistful of bills of the waiter.

"Keep the change," he mouthed at the man who looked down at the bills in his hand and then back up at Adrien wide-eyed.

Adrien, for his part, didn't notice because he was too busy pushing his food into a to-go box while Lila hastily tried to follow his lead. "Alright, well I should be there shortly. Thank you for calling me officer."

Adrien hung up the phone and Lila didn't even wait for him to put away before she started questioning him. "Adrien, what on earth is going on?"

"That was the police. There was a break in at work."

"What?" Lila shrieked, gaining the attention of other patrons.

Adrien ignored her and started heading out. Lila was practically tripping over herself trying to follow him.

"You have to go now? Can't this wait until morning?"

Adrien shook his head. "They need me to come down and make sure nothing was taken."

"Again though, can't this wait until morning?"

Adrien wondered why she was so insistent that he not go. Was she worried about the lost opportunity of the date or what he would find if he went there. Was this Tikki's doing? When he voiced his concern of Lila trying to get her to take her home with him she has said not to worry because she had a plan, but he didn't see how she could orchestrate something like this. "I didn't ask that and it's a little too late to do so now. I'm sorry Lila, I'm sure you have a busy schedule and it wasn't easy for you to take time out of it to come meet with me tonight, but this needs to be taken care of now."

They were outside of the restraint now and Adrien was making a beeline for his car. Lila took hold of his hand and pulled him to a stop. "Adrien, calm down. You've got a scary look on your face."

 _It's about to get scarier if you don't let go of me_ , he thought, instead he said, "I'm sorry. Let me walk you to your car and then I'll head down. The police can wait that long."

Lila looked down, embarrassed. "I didn't bring my car. That's part of why I was late, I had to take a cab."

Adrien looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. He was supposed to keep this going as long as possible until they got the evidence that they needed so he knew what he was supposed to do. He just really didn't want to do it. Thank goodness he hadn't brought Bridgette, he really didn't want Lila touching her. He let the breath out slowly then motioned for Lila to follow him. "Come on. I'll take you with me and then I'll take you home."

She flashed him another brilliant smile. "Oh Adrien, thank you so much. You're such a gentleman."

* * *

 **So I didn't really get a whole lot of positive response to the idea (or much response at all), so I'm going to go a different route. For those who care, I'm working on a children's bedtime story series about classics fairytales but with endangered animals. . . and some other original stuff in the works. That was one of the things that I lost when my computer died, so now if I can't get it to turn back on I'll have to rewrite it. It's fine. I'm fine. I'm not bitter at all. :P**

 **Anyway! We're nearing the end of this story! (so long as no random writing bug comes and bites me for another extension) I thank you all for joining me on this journey, it's been a fun one. See you all next week!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hello, not much to say. I just got back from watching Avengers: Infinity War. I'm so emotionally drained, but I won't spoil anything.**

 **Anonymous Person (ch 2) - It would honestly make my day if someone did that.**

 **Anonymous Person (ch 11)- I don't think Alya knows how to stop being in matchmaker mode.**

 **LilliaGirl- Lila, might just be a good actress :P and I promise things are officially wrapping up. Like, seriously for real. We're almost to the end.**

 **Anonymous Person (ch 18)- I mean, Plagg was joking. . . probably**

 **Anonymous Person (ch21)- Not instigated by Plagg. Let's just say that Tikki is very good with statistics and strategizing. She is the goddess of luck after all ;)**

 **Alright, here you go.**

 **I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Agreste Industries was a whirl of flashing red lights and shouting when Adrien and Lila pulled up.

"We're the ones who called you guys! Why are we getting arrested?" an angry, male voice demanded.

"How do we know that you weren't also trying to sneak in here? Your presence is highly suspicious," said another voice. Adrien thought it might be Officer Rodger from the phone call.

Adrien came closer, and the people that went with the voices came into view. One was older, red hair visible even in the dark light with the sturdy build of one who had once been the pinnacle of fitness. . . maybe five years ago. The other was a Chinese man who glared at the officer with three others behind him. The Chinese man saw Adrien's approach and turned to him beseechingly. "Tell him that we're on your side."

Adrien was about to open his mouth to say he'd never met this guy in his life when the sound of footsteps alerted everyone to yet another newcomer. Plagg came, red-faced and huffing as he came to a stop in front of the officer. "I- wheeze- paid them- wheeze." He bent over to brace a hand on his knee while the other rose shakily to hold up a finger to let them know he needed a minute as he continued struggling to breathe.

Once he could breathe normally, he took the hand from his knee and brought it to his face. Adrien realized Plagg had his phone in that hand. "Yeah, I got here in time. I'm taking care of it. We'll talk later. Bye, Bug!" He hung up and turned his full attention back to the officer. "I hired these four to come sit outside the building and watch the place for me. They've been here every night for the last week or so."

"What authority did you have to do that?" Lila snapped, making everyone turn to face her. Adrien had forgotten her presence entirely.

"As head of counter-security, it is within my rights to test out security measures both of our products and of the company itself by any means I see fit," Plagg growled at her.

The officer held up his hand to stop the argument before it could gain momentum. "I called Mr. Adrien Agreste – are any of you him?"

Adrien raised his hand.

"Proof of identity please," the officer said.

Adrien fished his wallet out of his pants pocket and held it out so the Officer could see his license. The officer took it, looked it over, the nodded and handed it back. "Alright, Mr. Agreste. We found six persons on the premise tonight. Two of them are in the car over there waiting to be taken down to the station. These four over here are saying that they're actually with you."

"If Plagg says he hired them, then they're with me," Adrien said with a shrug.

Lila was visibly put out by that response. "You're just going to let him disrespect you like that?"

Adrien frowned over at her. "He's just doing his job."

Lila opened her mouth to object once again, but the officer cleared his throat to bring the attention back to him. "Mr. Agreste, if I can get you to come with me, we called you out here so you can make sure that nothing was stolen."

Adrien nodded, stepping forward. "Of course, Officer . . ?" He let the title hang waiting for the other man to fill it in.

"Raincomprix. Officer Raincomprix. You talked to my partner, Officer Rodger, on the phone."

"Alright, Officer Raincomprix. Lead the way."

They walked to the building, and Adrien pulled out a card to swipe across the scanner. Plagg stayed behind, deep in conversation with the four strangers. Adrien wondered who this mysterious "Bug" person Plagg had been talking to on the phone might be and just how many people Tikki had gotten involved in this mad (though genius) plan of hers. The door opened with a click, and he paused just inside, because the silence was deafening enough to draw his attention to an obvious problem.

"Something wrong, Mr. Agreste?"

"They broke into the building, right? The ones you arrested?"

"Yes, that's correct," the officer said.

Adrien frowned. "The alarm should be going off. This is a top of the line security system, and they just bypassed it like it was nothing."

"They must be professionals then."

Adrien shook his head. "Not just professionals. They had to have had someone on the inside. It's physically impossible to shut off the entire system without being in the building because it's on a closed system and you can't access the wires from the outside. Anyone who tries to access the building after hours without a keycard would have to break the glass to do so or be let in by the security guard."

"Maybe the security guard was in on it with them," Lila suggested, sticking close to Adrien. It made his skin crawl.

"Well, we're questioning him right now, so we'll find out soon enough," Officer Raincomprix said.

Adrien nodded, though he still looked thoughtful as we walked forward to inspect everything. "We'll probably do an investigation of our own as well. Double check backgrounds, maybe make everyone take a polygraph."

He felt Lila twitch beside him. "A bit overkill isn't it?"

"We're a security company; we're paid to be overkill. Besides, I don't tolerate leaks," Adrien said, keeping a careful watch on her out of the corner of his eye.

Her poker face was good. He didn't see a hint of panic in her eyes, but he did note that she gripped her little bag tighter, and when all she managed to say was a quiet "Oh," he knew he'd gotten to her.

He finished his inspection of the entryway and told Officer Raincomprix that nothing appeared to be out of order. They moved on, going through meeting rooms and employee cubicles until they came to his office. The light turned on when he entered, and he began his careful examination of the room, finding nothing out of the ordinary. "Everything seems to be in order. Nothing obvious is missing, but the people who work in the other offices and cubicles would know about those better than I could. I can just tell you that we aren't missing any computers or desks."

"Alright, well if I can just get you to sign a statement-"

Plagg appeared then, out of breath once again. Perhaps Adrien should start taking him running or something. "Adrien, I need to speak with you for a second." He shot a glare at Lila. "Alone."

Officer Raincomprix frowned. "Anything you have to say to Mr. Agreste, you can say in front of me."

Plagg looked irritated. "Fine. Fine. Can we just do it somewhere else?"

Adrien turned to Lila with what he hoped was an apologetic face. "I'm sorry, but would you mind waiting here for a bit?"

Lila nodded and went to sit down at one of chairs in front of his desk. "That's fine. I'll just wait here."

"This'll only take a minute," he said.

Lila waved him off with a smile. "Take all the time you need."

The three men left with Plagg slamming the door on his way out. They walked down to the end of the hallway before Officer Raincomprix spoke up. "Sir, you are being incredibly rude in front of a police officer. Would you like to explain why?" His hand twitched like he was just itching for a reason to write a ticket.

Plagg pulled out his phone and opened an app the revealed a live feed camera from the office they'd just left. "Sorry, Officer. Just trying to prove a theory."

The officer frowned. "What is going on?"

Adrien gave the officer his best business smile and prayed Plagg didn't say anything stupid enough to get them arrested. "We've been noticing security problems for a while now but couldn't figure out where they were coming from. We've suspected Ms. Rossi, but didn't want to do anything on the off chance we were wrong. We suspect that this attempted robbery and her are connected, and if they are, she'll try to finish the job right now. There are security cameras put up in my room that are motion sensitive. My associate here received an alert on his phone to let him know that someone had entered my office and took the initiative to set it up so we could find out if Ms. Rossi is, in fact, our mole."

Officer Raincomprix looked between the two, impressed. "That's quite a bit of detective work on your part. How did you know they would try to break in tonight?"

Adrien shrugged. "We didn't. We're just trying to make the most of the situation."

On the tiny screen of Plagg's phone, they watched as Lila looked around, then hurried over to Adrien's computer, turned it on, and pulled something out of her purse. They watched her plug it in, then drum her fingers impatiently as she looked between the computer screen and the doors.

Officer Raincomprix hooked his thumbs through his belt loops. "Whelp, I'll go arrest her now."

Adrien's hand shot out to grab him. "Wait, she has to download the file first."

The officer frowned at the hand on his forearm, and Adrien immediately released him. "And just how will we know when she does that?"

"We'll know when we know," Plagg said, keeping his eyes glued to the screen.

"Are you sure you want to risk her getting anything?" Officer Raincomprix asked, apparently jumping at the bit to make an arrest.

Plagg shook his head. "There's nothing to get. I set up a honey pot, that's a trap full of viruses. The second she tries to send something, we'll have her and her accomplices."

It appeared that Lila had what she wanted from the computer as she pulled out her phone and connected it to the computer as well. Plagg grinned like a demon loosed on Halloween. "Oh, yes."

"You know, if Tikki sees that face, I don't think she'll date you," Adrien said, though a maniacal grin was plastered across his own face as well. They finally, FINALLY had her.

"Shut up," Plagg said, though he put a hand over his mouth.

"What's going on?" Officer Raincompix asked, clearly annoyed at being left out.

"She just connected her phone to the computer," Plagg explained, demonic grin still on his face. "Which means she just downloaded the malware onto her phone. In a couple of hours, the bug will work its way through her system and dump all of her phones data onto the internet for any curious browser to find."

"Why did she connect her phone to the computer?" the officer asked.

"I'm assuming so she can send the information to her cohorts faster, unless she's trying to download malware or spyware of her own," Adrien said, speaking up before Plagg could this time.

"Can I go arrest her now?" Officer Raincomprix asked.

Plagg held up a finger. "Wait for her to disconnect her phone."

Lila gave one last look around the room and did just that before turning off Adrien's computer and scurrying back to the seat she'd been in when they left. Plagg's pointed finger dropped from pointing up and now aimed at Adrien's office doors. "Officer Raincomprix, if you would be so kind."

Officer Raincomprix marched down the hall, righteous purpose in every stride, and threw the office doors open.

Lila swore and jumped out of her seat. "What was that for?"

"Lila Rossi, you are under arrest!"

Her face turned red and splotchy, as her mouth dropped open in surprise, but her eyes darted around like she was searching for an escape. "Under what charges?"

Plagg came up behind the officer and leaned casually against the doorframe, his smile calming from maniacal to more the cat-that-ate-the-canary. "Corporate espionage for one. Though I'm sure we could dig up more."

Her eyes skipped between the three. "What did Marinette tell you?"

Plagg's grin widened. "She told me nothing, but thank you for confirming that you did indeed do something to her."

She cursed once more, and Officer Raincomprix approached her as he pulled out his handcuffs and attached them to her wrists. He led her out of the building.

Plagg and Adrien followed him out, the latter in a shocked silence while Plagg beamed and laughed. Once they made it outside the four Plagg had saved from arrest came up to greet them. He held his hand out to Adrien. "We just talked to Plagg, but you went into the building before we had a chance to get introduced. Hey, I'm Wayzz. This is Pollen, Nooroo, and Trixx. Tikki sent us."

Pollen gave a little wave when her name was said and her outfit of black sparkles shimmered a bit at the movement. Nooroo just gave a small nod of his head, purple hair flopping over his eyes in the process. Trixx also gave a nod of their head, their's seemed to be filled with a lot more sass and Adrien found himself staring as he tried to decide if they were a boy or a girl. Their face was pointy and fox-like and their red hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. Their clothes were all black and fit them nicely, but Adrein honestly couldn't tell what their gender was.

Plagg scowled. "I gathered that much. Mind telling me why we weren't informed?"

Wayzz shrugged. "I know Adrien wasn't told because Tikki was worried about his acting skills. As for why you were kept out of the loop, you'll have to take that up with the master statistician herself."

Plagg's scowl deepened. "I'll do that."

The red-head stuck out his hand, interrupting the conversation and weird stand-off that seemed to be forming between Wayzz and Plagg. "Hi. Trixx at your service. I believe tall, dark, and handsome over here," they gestured to Plagg, "promised us pay for our hard work."

Plagg spluttered at that. "I just said that to keep you from getting arrested."

Trixx's eyes twinkled with mischief, "Well, if you don't want to get caught in a lie, you'll have to create a paper trail to prove you were telling the truth."

"Trixx!" Wayzz said, disapprovingly.

The blond spoke up then, though she kept her eyes on her manicured nails. "What? He's not wrong? I'd hate to come this far, just to get in trouble over something so trivial. Besides, I've had my eye on this really cute purse that's just a tiny bit out of my budget."

"Pollen, you're not helping." Wayzz groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

The fourth figure spoke up, startlingly quiet despite their bright, purple hair. "C-Calm down everyone. If you start arguing here, we might get arrested anyway for causing a scene."

"Calm down yourself, Nooroo," said Trixx. "We're just having a little fun now that everything is over."

The last sentence hit Adrien like a physical blow, and he felt the air leave his lung. It was over. Finally over. He could see Marinette again. She was free. He was free. They were free! The weight of solitude and stress finally eased up on his shoulders, though he suspected it wouldn't go away entirely until he had Marinette in his arms once more.

"Ummm, guys? I think he's broken," Nooroo's quiet voice called out, capturing the attention of his bickering friends and Plagg.

Plagg's annoyed face immediately morphed into concern, and he reached out to grab Adrien by the shoulder. "Woah, Adrien, you okay there, buddy?"

Adrien nodded numbly, but didn't speak. His throat was thick with the sobs he held back.

"Oh, you poor thing," Pollen cooed, reaching into a purse Adrien hadn't even noticed she'd had and pulled out a tissue and began dabbing at his face in a motherly manner.

Adrien suddenly realized he was crying.

"Crap. Not again," Adrien muttered as he pulled back and tried to wipe his own face on his sleeve.

"You okay?" Plagg asked again.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine," Adrien said hurriedly.

Plagg did not look convinced.

"Really, I am. I'm just . . ." He struggled to search for the right word before one surfaced in his mind. " _Relieved_." He paused and realized that was the perfect way to describe the lightened weight on his back and the fluttering hope in his heart, and maybe a tiny bit of an urge to vomit. "Yeah. Relieved."

Plagg smiled and gave him a clap on the back. "Yeah, well, go be relieved back home in bed. I'll take care of the rest of this paperwork and questioning. Go home and get some sleep."

Adrien was about to argue before realizing what a golden opportunity this was. "Thanks, Plagg. I'll see you later."

"Don't bother coming in to work tomorrow either!" Plagg shouted. "I'm sure the cops will still have questions for you, and this place will be swarming with paparazzi by sunrise."

He gave a wave to let Plagg know he had heard him but kept walking towards his car. Adrien had a plan forming in his mind. He would go home, but only so he could change his clothes. He wanted to look just right for the next time he saw his Lady.

* * *

 **I hope the longer length helps make up for the wait. I'm just going to go and curl up in a ball and try to process the last 2 1/2 hours of my life while my husband explains comic lore at me.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hey guys! Never work 3 jobs if you can help it -_- That's all I'm going to say on my absence. Well, that and I'm pretty sure this is the last chapter aside from the epilogue and I will admit, worrying over it being perfect also contributed to it's lateness. But it's here now!**

 **Quick address to some commentors-**

 **Anonymous Person \- Yeah, it tells me which chapter you're commenting on. It could get pretty confusing otherwise if you were referencing specific incidents.**

 **As for Tikki, Plagg, Trixx, Nooroo, Wayzz, and Pollen I do have plans for them, but not in this story. I've got tenative plans for a part three focusing more on Tikki and Plagg rather than Marinette and Adrien.**

 **CeceTheFandomQueen \- Thanks! I agree that Lila has gotten her just deserves.**

 **LilliaGirl \- As I said up above, there might be more even if this story arch is done, so fret not! And yeah, I'm a bonafide adult and have been for years now. I'll admit that I actually base a lot of things Plagg says and does off of my husband. :P Glad to know there are more of us out there in this fandom!**

 **Okay, on to the story!**

* * *

Tikki gently pushed Marinette towards the door. "Go home. You need to sleep."

"But- But- But-"

"It's over. Let that settle in."

"But aren't the boys coming over?"

Tikki raised an eyebrow. "Do you really feel like you're emotionally ready to see Adrien right now?"

Her sister had a point. Marinette had been through an emotional wringer tonight and even the victory of knowing Lila had been arrested was settling with more of a numb shock than the joy and elation she thought she'd feel.

There was also the fact that she hadn't had a proper night's rest since that time Tikki drugged her tea. She had been sleeping, yes, but only fitful naps lasting a few hours at best. Constantly worried and paranoid that she would miss some search update or a knock from Lila, sleep seemed to have wandered off to more willing partners.

"I'm-ahhhh- fine," Marinette said, breaking off mid-sentence to yawn.

"No, you're not. You look like crap, and you need to sleep. Plagg said he's going to make sure Adrien goes straight to bed as well, so there's no point in sticking around because he's not coming."

"Fine. I'll go home. Who are you two, our parents?" Marinette grumbled.

Tikki gave no answer but laughed as she gently pushed her out the door.

Marinette made it home safely and without incident. As she made herself a cup of tea to help her sleep, she heard a knock on her door. Briefly, she thought it might be Lila, then remembered that Lila had been arrested and would never be by to harass her again.

She was too short to get a proper look out the peep hole and too tired to find something to stand on so she could.

"Hello?" she called through the door cautiously.

"It's me. Can you open the door?" a familiar male voice said.

In her excitement, Marinette's hands trembled and fumbled with the locks, but she eventually flung the door open, only to have her jaw drop in shock. Adrien grinned at her sheepishly and gave her a moment to pick her mouth up off the floor. When she did, all she could thing to say was, "Adrien, why are you wearing a cat suit?"

He blushed and ran a hand through his hair, knocking one of his cat ears askew. "Look, this sounded like a way more romantic idea in my brain, but now I'm here and feeling self-conscious, and this clearly isn't going the way I was hoping, but can I please come in? One of your neighbors saw me, and I'm worried she might have called the cops."

A giggle slipped out as Marinette pulled him inside. "Come inside, silly Kitty."

His shoulders slumped in relief as she let him in. When she shut the door, an awkward silence ensued as they stared at each other.

Marinette broke eye contact first when she looked to the ground and coughed. "I- uh- I was making some tea. Would you like some?"

Adrien cleared his throat, an embarrassed blush visible where the mask didn't cover his face. "Yeah, tea would be great."

They made their way through the hallway, and Adrien sat on the couch while Marinette shuffled about her kitchen to make the tea, sneaking glances over at Adrien all the while. Maybe Tikki was right and she just wasn't emotionally ready for this. Still, seeing him was soothing the ache in her heart, and there was no way she was asking him to leave.

 _Besides_ , she thought to herself, _it was entirely possible one of her neighbors could have called the cops if they'd seen a man in a catsuit wandering the halls this late at night so it really was the responsible thing to let him stay_.

She came back with the mug of tea and placed it on the coffee table next to hers with a small bowl of sugar cubes and tongs.

She sat down on the couch, leaving enough room between them for Alya and Nino. Not that either of them were here right now. Adrien grabbed his tea and raised it to his mouth, taking a sip and almost immediately giving a yelp of pain.

"Careful. It's hot," Marinette warned belatedly _. Great job. Now you've scarred him for life_.

"Yeah. I noticed."

He set the teacup down and stared at his hands while Marinette fidgeted beside him.

Finally, he turned and looked her in the eye. "Look, I know we've both been through a lot and we have a lot to talk about and figure out, but can we just pretend that everything's alright and just cuddle?"

Marinette's breath hitched. Tears sprang to her eyes. "Yes, please."

She slid across the couch and into his arms, melting into his embrace. They laid on the couch together, spooning so closely she could feel the piping of his suit pressed against her back, even the stitching down the legs where they were entangled together.

She breathed out a sigh of relief and felt him do the same as he curled around her. Despite both of them having just agreed to pretend nothing was wrong, Marinette realized the longer she was in his presence, the greater the urge there was to start talking. And the only thing she had to talk about were recent events.

"I had a conversation with Tikki tonight."

"Oh?"

"She told me a lot of things. Things I didn't know about her, but she also gave me a phone number."

"A phone number to what?"

"To a therapist."

Adrien didn't respond verbally to that. Instead, he went very still, but Marinette had started and now she needed to finish talking.

"It's my fault. This whole thing happened because I have issues that I need to work through. I've spent my whole life adapting around or catering to my anxieties. It's about time I did something to conquer them. Tikki made me call Mr. Fu – that's the therapist guy – tonight and leave a message so I can't chicken out in the morning. I'm not sure when I'll get to meet with him. I've got a mountain of things to catch up on at work, so figuring out my schedule will be difficult. Adrien, I guess what I'm trying to say is I want things to work, and if you want to give it a second go, I wanted you to know that I'm trying and things should be better this time. Ugh! I'm rambling. Sorry, I'll stop talking now."

Adrien sat up, and with his arms still wrapped firmly around Marinette, she rose with him. Once they were both in a sitting position, he gently guided her until she was in his lap and facing him. One of his cat ears was gone and the mask was slipping down hilariously, yet she'd never seen Adrien look so serious.

"Marinette, My Lady, first and foremost, if I remember correctly, we never broke up. We were only pretending to trick Lila, so you never stopped being my girlfriend, which means that there's no 'other go' to talk about because we're still on the first one. Second, and more importantly, you could never ruin anything. You light up my life. Even with everything that's happened, and perhaps even because of it, I have never felt more at peace than at this moment right here with you. You're perfect."

Tears falling freely now for the umpteenth time that night, Marinette buried her face in the shoulder of his cat suit, taking in the smell of leather and his cologne. Quietly, she let herself whisper her biggest fear, "I'm broken."

His hands rubbed soothing circles while he held her close. "We're all at least a little broken."

She felt he needed to know. Needed to understand just what he was getting in to. "But I'll freak out and mess up again."

His words were soft and soothing as he murmured in her ear. "And you'll learn and pick yourself up again. You already said you were going to start going to therapy. That's a huge step, and I'm so proud of you Mari."

"But- But I-" Fresh out of arguments, she broke down sobbing in his arms. He murmured sweet nothings as he gently pressed his lips to her forehead and cheeks. His mouth traveled lower, and they began trading salty kisses. He kept his touch light, seeming to remember that he was wearing claw-tipped gloves. It sent pleasant shivers down her spine.

Her tears slowed, then stopped. As did their kisses, until they were left sitting and cuddling on the couch while Adrien gently rocked them back and forth. He stilled, and his grip tightened around her. He took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Mari," Adrien whispered, and buried his face in the crook of her neck.

It took her a moment to realize that thick, hot tears were now running down her neck and into her shirt.

She reached a hand up and began to rub his back. Their roles as comforter and comforted rapidly reversed. "Shhh. Shhh. It's alright, Chaton. It's alright."

"I can't do this again. I just can't. I can't not see you every day or hear your voice. I can't go through all the lies and pretending. Knowing you were just a phone call or a drive away, but unable to see you. It was torture," he said as he clutched her like a life line.

Fresh tears welled in her eyes. "I can't either. But I want to be with you, so I'm going to try to change."

"But it's not right for me to ask you to change for me," Adrien said.

"Chaton," Marinette said, trying to coax Adrien out of where he had burrowed himself in her shoulder. When he refused, she gently pulled at his face. "Adrien, look at me."

He slowly raised his head until their eyes met. His eyes were puffy and red from crying. He looked so world-wearied and bone-dead tired. She was sure she didn't look any better.

"Adrien, you're not asking me to change, and you're not making me do something that I don't want to do. Wanting to be with you makes me want to be a better person and face my demons so I can be my best self around you."

He pressed another kiss to her lips, one that spoke to her more eloquently than words, telling her that he loved her and felt the same.

They traded kisses until they were both too tired to keep it up any more. Then they snuggled close, his chin on her head, their arms wrapped around each other and their legs entangled. Mari suggested that they move to the bed, where they'd have more room, but both were too comfortable to move and too tired to think of the stiff necks and sore backs they'd have in the morning.

Marinette woke slowly. Her first realization was that everything was sore, like she'd slept in a contortionist pose on a bed of rocks. Her second realization was of the sound of quiet footsteps making their way around her kitchen. Still not fully awake, her eyes snapped open at the first thought her brain could come up with – Lila. She must have upped her anty and was now breaking and entering.

That's it. Marinette drew the line there.

She rolled off the couch and came up in a drunken fighter's stance before running into the kitchen with a roar and tackling the figure in front of her stove. The figure gave a frightened yelp – one much deeper than she would have suspected from Lila. They both hit the ground. Then she looked down, Her mouth fell open in horror, last night's events coming back to her in rapid succession.

"Adrien! Oh my gosh! I'm so so so so sorry!"

Adrien groaned and reached up to rub the back of his head. "Mari? What the hell?!"

"I- I heard someone in my kitchen and thought there was an intruder."

"So you body slammed me rather than hiding in a closet and calling the cops?"

Marinette blushed in embarrassment. "I wasn't really thinking. . . or awake."

Adrien snorted. "Probably for the best that you didn't call the cops. I can just imagine trying to explain to them why I'm wearing a cat suit."

Marinette blinked and looked down, finally registering that he was wearing the same tight leather suit he'd come in. "Why _are_ you still wearing your cat suit?"

"I didn't bring a change of clothes," he said, shrugging from where he lay on the floor.

"I still have your jacket," Marinette said.

Adrien quirked an eyebrow and smirked at her. "You want me to run around in just my jacket?"

Marinette blushed furiously and leaned down to bury her face in his chest to muffle the inarticulate squeaks coming out of her mouth.

Adrien chuckled and began to rub her back. "I'm not hearing a no," he said teasingly.

"You're also not hearing a yes," she managed to get out.

"My lady, I'm hurt. Don't you want to see my fabulous abs?"

The yes was at the tip of her tongue, but she was still mortified and irritated enough to mutter instead, "Keep your abs covered, you mangy cat."

Adrien's chuckle shook his chest where Marinette still had her face buried. "Mariiiii. Come out."

She shook her head and pressed firmly into his chest, feeling the leather start to leave imprints on her cheeks.

"Please? I really want to kiss you."

Marinette raised her head just enough to see Adrien smiling tenderly at her. She felt his hand come to cradle the back of her head and gently pull her up until her lips met his. His grip on the back of her head immediately tightened, keeping her from pulling away.

Not that she wanted to. His touch sent warmth and shivers running through her. No coffee had woken her up as quickly or as enjoyably as his mouth on hers. Touch deprived, she ached for more of him and pressed into the kiss.

Adrien groaned and broke the kiss, his hand coming up once more to touch the back of his head. "Sorry. It's sorer than I thought it would be."

"Oh my gosh, did I give you a concussion?" Marinette asked, worry replacing any other emotion she had been feeling before.

Adrien waved off her concern with the hand that wasn't gripping the back of his head. "Nah. I've had those and this just feels like a bump."

"When did you get a concussion before?"

He sent her a lopsided grin, and she knew it was to help calm her down. "I do parkour, remember?"

Marinette nodded, still feeling a little panicked. "Right. That's a thing you do. I should get you ice, shouldn't I? That's a thing I should do."

"I don't know, I think you should just continue laying on me like this and let me be cured through kisses and cuddles."

Marinette looked down at herself and realized she was straddling him. Her face reddened once more. She groaned but rolled off him so he could get up. "I'm so sorry."

Adrien laughed again. "Not exactly the way I was expecting the morning to go, but overall I'm not complaining."

Marinette chuckled as she walked over to the freezer, grabbing a rag on her way to fill with ice. "You're sure you want to be part of my crazy life?"

Adrien grinned at her as he went back over to the stovetop. "Every miraculous minute of it."

* * *

 **Thank you all who have read this story. It means so much to me! A huge thank you to Starlin's Ghost and my cousin who both helped with editing. This story would be no where near as good without their constructive words and willingness to let me ramble until I figure out what I actually want.**

 **In case any of you skipped over the part at the top- Yes, I am thinking of doing a part three. However, I will also be taking a hiatus once this story is finished. So don't expect me to post anything for that until August at the earliest.**

 **Again, thank you to all of you wonderful readers, you have no idea how much it means to me to have people care about my stories. You're the best!**

 **(Quick update for anyone who wanted to know, I finished the draft for my first children's picture book and it has now been handed over to the artist to illustrate it. I'm so excited!)**


	24. Epilogue

**Here it is. The very last of this story and I'll be disappearing for a while now that this is done.**

 **Guest- Thank you so much! I'm so glad you liked it.**

 **giggleman- thanks for the well wishes!**

 **chatnoirispawsom- Yeah, it's kinda bittersweet for me too. I've been working on this for so long, but yeah, there will be a part three coming up.**

* * *

Everyone was gathered in Alya and Nino's small apartment. Alya and Marinette stood in front of their small group of friends while Nino, Adrien, Plagg, and Tikki sat squished together on the couch.

Together, Alya and Marinette held up a bubble-wrapped envelope. It was still unopened. Alya held the knife to remedy that. Marinette gently placed the package on the table so Alya could slit it open with the knife.

Adrien leaned over to whisper to Nino, "Am I the only one who's scared she's armed?"

Nino pressed his lips together to keep from laughing, but shook his head in agreement.

"I heard that," Alya said, not looking up from her package.

Marinette shushed her and then reached inside the package to pull out its contents with a flourish. "We present to you- our pre-production copy of volume nine!"

The four on the couch "oooed" and "awed" and clapped before Marinette handed it over for inspection.

When Adrien got his turn, he paused to admire his girlfriend's artwork and noticed something different on the cover. Previously, the cover art had always had a little stylized ladybug put discreetly in the bottom right corner, but that wasn't the case this time.

"Mari?" he said to get her attention. "Did you choose the wrong cover art?"

She flew over to him in a panic to see what he meant. "Is something wrong? Is that my unedited version of the picture? Chat looked like he had a fat lip in that one."

"No. No. His lips are fine. I'm talking about this." He pointed to the spot where the stylized ladybug usually sat where instead there was a discreet MDC tucked under Chat Noir's tail.

Marinette smiled. "Oh, that. No, it's supposed to be there. I didn't tell you because I wanted to see if you'd notice."

Alya came up from behind and put her arm around Marinette, "We talked with our publisher as he loved the idea. Mari came up with a little game to get the fans all riled up."

"Riled up for what?"

Marinette grinned mischievously. "For the reveal of Ladybug."

Adrien stared at her, mouth agape in shock.

Tikki gave a squeal and launched herself off the couch to wrap her sister up in a hug. "I'm so proud of you!"

Marinette blushed and beamed under her sister's praise. "Thanks, but I couldn't have worked up the courage without the support all of you have given me.

"And Dr. Fu," Tikki chimed in.

"And Dr. Fu," Marinette agreed. "I really need to make that man macaroons or something."

"Is that a normal thing to do for a therapist?" Alya asked.

"It is if you're a Dupain-Cheng," Tikki said with a shrug, stepping back from her sister and accidentally into Plagg who had been hovering right behind her. She gave a yelp and turned around to smack him on the arm. "Keep sneaking up on me and I'll put a bell around your neck!"

As everyone laughed Marinette leaned over to whisper to Adrien. "When did they get so close?"

"He's been going over to her house almost every night because his computer is still at her house and he says he's too lazy to move it out," Adrien whispered back. He wasn't surprised she hadn't found out yet. She'd been swamped at work trying to catch up on all the assignments she'd neglected and then there were her therapy sessions and any time left over after that went to the two of them making up for lost time on Adrien's couch. In any number of ways. Anime binging, kissing, talking, kissing, playing card games, kissing, or even one interesting evening where they tried to braid each other's hair (problems arose because Adrien's was short and he had no idea what he was doing), but his favorite was kissing.

He only knew about Plagg's knew squatting/stalking habits because he came in during every lunch break to give him updates on what had happened the night previous. One day Tikki was going to find out that Plagg had a second computer at home and be very mad about being lied to, but Adrien wasn't going to burst his friend's bubble just yet. Besides, he had more important things to do. Like kissing Marinette. And of course, he'd been distracted with something he'd been trying to psych himself up to do for a while now. As he watched Marinette's animated discussion with Alya he decided tonight would be the night. If she could be brave, then so could he.

He took advantage of her distraction when Alya called her name to press a quick kiss to the side of her face. She looked back over at him to give him a dazzling smile. "I love you too, Kitty."

Tikki left the party first, with Plagg not far behind her. Adrien stayed so he could take Marinette home, but as the hours drug on he and Nino ran out of things to talk about and they sat in companionable silence as their girlfriends continued to chatter.

Eventually Alya took pity on the tired boyfriends and started kicked Marinette out as well. "You best heads home before Adrien's too tired to drive you."

The thought of being alone with Marinette and what he had planned woke him up faster than an espresso shot, but he tried to hide his nervous excitement. Neither talked much on the ride to Marinette's. When they pulled into her apartment complex, she gave a sleepy goodnight and moved to open the door.

Adrien reached out to grab her hand. "Wait. I need to talk to you about something."

She blinked owlishly at him and slowly settled back into her chair. "Alright. What is it?"

His hand left hers and slipped into his pocket to play with the cool metal object in there. Partially to give himself courage and partially so he had something to do with his nervous hands. "Well- it's just- we've been dating for a while now, right?"

"Riiiiight," Mairnette said, the undertone of 'where is this conversation going?' clear in the one word.

"And, well, I'd say that things have been going very well. You know, certain incidents excluded, things have been going really well. Anyway, with things going so well, I've just been thinking- not that I don't think on a regular basis- I think about a lot of things."

"Adrien," Marinette said, reaching out to touch his face, "you're rambling."

"Yeah. Sorry."

"It's fine, just take a deep breath and try again."

He did as she said, swallowing air and slowly letting it out until his heart wasn't pounding quite as hard. "There's something that I wanted to ask you for a while now, but I just wasn't sure how to bring it up. So I'm just going to come right out and say it- Marinette Dupain-Cheng, will you move in with me?" He pulled the key he'd been playing with out of his pocket and held it out to her.

Marinette's breath hitched and she brought a hand up to cover her mouth. "Oh Adrien. YES! Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!" She threw her arms around him and pulled him into a hug over the console.

His arms, now shaking with relief, came up to wrap around her tightly. He felt his eyes prickle as happy tears started to fall. "Thank you," he whispered.

She laughed into his should and he could tell she was crying to. "Why are you thanking me? You're the one about to give up half your apartment."

"You just make me so happy."

She gave another crying laugh and pulled back to wipe away her tears. "I could say the same for you."

He pulled her up over the console them so she could cuddle in his lap and she held the hand that had the key in it.

"You know," Marinette said, breaking the silence, "For a second there I thought you were going to ask me to marry you."

Adrien went still as the thought registered in his mind. "And what would you have said if I had?"

She reached up to press her lips to his chin. "I guess you'll have to ask to find out."

He squeezed her tighter and grinned when he heard her squeak at the sudden cuddle attack. "My Lady, I might just have to take you up on that one day soon."

* * *

 **Sorry/not sorry to all of you who thought he was going to ask her to marry him XD It might happen in a later story *wanders off whistling innocently***

 **Thank you all so much for reading this! A big thank you to Starlin's Ghost and my cousin for helping with editing. This story wouldn't be anywhere near as good without their help.**


	25. Part 3!

Just a quick heads up to anyone following this, but not following me. Book 3 is now available, it's called Miraculous Question.


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